folks don't understand it's the american consumer who ends up payin for these doggone regulations. not anymore! it's a new day in DC!
We have paid far more for the lack of regulations.
Smog Deaths In 1948 Led To Clean Air Laws
April 22, 20099:43 AM ET
Heard on
All Things Considered
ANN MURRAY
The mill town of Donora, Pa., seen Jan. 1, 1948. On Oct. 27 of that year, a smoky, lethal smog killed 20 people. The air was polluted by local steel plants, railroad yards and zinc works.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Sixty years ago, an environmental disaster in southwestern Pennsylvania shocked the country. It forever changed the way Americans think about industrial pollution and their health.
On Oct. 27, 1948, the people of Donora, Pa., woke up to a thick yellow blanket of smog. Charles Stacey, who was a senior at the local high school then, remembers his walk to class that day.
"The smog created a burning sensation in your throat and eyes and nose, but we still thought that was just normal for Donora," Stacey says.
Back then, smog often hung on until late morning in Donora, a small mill town about 25 miles south of Pittsburgh. The town's zinc plant and steel mill belched out endless streams of toxic smoke.
But this smog was different. It darkened the valley for five straight days. That week, Stacey listened to the radio and discovered that the ever-thickening smog had turned lethal: 20 people were dead, and half the town was sick. He says everyone was overwhelmed by the havoc.
And many of the survivors had shortened lives.
