The U.S economy is entering its fourth year of high unemployment. Job creation is a concern for every sitting public official and candidate for office, as well as for many families. While just about everyone would agree that protecting existing jobs and creating new jobs are critical steps towards lifting the economy out of its ongoing crisis, economists, politicians, and the public are far from unanimous about government’s best role in fostering what Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has called “an environment that is good for jobs.”

Arguments about job creation have been particularly important for opponents of environmental regulation. Jobs are destroyed in vast numbers, we have been told, when the Clean Air Act protects human health, when the environmental impacts of new pipelines are questioned, and when sensible safeguards are adopted to prevent another oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. Can it really be the case that what’s good for the environment is always bad for jobs? Environmental protection also requires extensive investments that stimulate the economy and generate employment.