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Show Protecting Our Environment Our air and water are a lot cleaner than they otherwise might be, thanks to America's electric utility industry. Our electric utility industry spends about $2 billion a year to help keep America clean. In 197G, electric utilities spent approximately $2 billion on environmental protection. Electric utilities using coal, for instance, install expensive (and energy-consuming) energy-consuming) equipment called scrubbers to remove pollutants from smoke stack emissions. j Partially as a result of these environmental protecting pro-tecting expenses, the Edison Electric Institute notes, in ! 1978, the average price for residential electricity had climbed to 4.03 cents a kilowatt-hour. ! It would appear the econ omy can be endangered when the environment is I protected. I i |