Abstract

Air pollution is one of several problems facing many urban areas, as a concomitant of growing population, increasing urbanization, and generally higher popular expectations as to the esthetics and conveniences of life. These problems include such things as solid waste disposal, sewage treatment, water pollution, transportation, welfare, housing, pest control and many others. Many of these urban problems have the common feature that acceptable community solutions may be difficult to reach under the governmental structure and approach of an earlier era. Unless this is recognized in the approach to these problems, the distortion of many of the values of our traditional local-state-federal structure will inevitably continue. Ultimately, complete federalization and total loss of the "home rule" concept could be the price of our failure to move prudently and expeditiously in arranging our governmental affairs to recognize current needs; and this price includes no guarantee that the problems would be solved.

The chief points of similarity of these problems, for purposes of this discussion, are (a) that both the understanding of the problems and the development of solutions involve technical complexity beyond that which legislative bodies can reasonably be expected to grasp fully; (b) that they frequently involve areas which overlap two or more local jurisdictions; and (c) that such urgency as may take root in public opinion tends to be based also on incomplete appreciation of technology. These similarities are sufficient to suggest that the solutions may also be similar, at least insofar as they bear on these particular points. In any event, the stresses which air pollution problems place on governmental structures are in large measure duplicated in the other problem areas. It appears useful, therefore, to consider the actual and possible effects of air pollution problems on government structure.

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