With all his power, it would be wonderful if he would pull for a better Houston. That is economic nonsense. We began a long time ago to clean the air. In the '70s I was involved in designing processes to remove pollutants from industrial emissions and these installations cost industries lots of money and substituted for what could have been more profitable expenditures. As a result, industrial products cost more than necessary and, of course, the consumer pays higher prices.
Clean air is a relative term.
Back before clean air became such a priority, I breathed more polluted air. And by comparison, I consider the air I breathe today to be clean enough. Others obviously do not. Yes, air would be cleaner if we shut down our industries and all of us quit driving our automobiles. We may be able to get both, but the economic benefits we achieve will be diminished to some degree by the cost of clean-air regulations.