The
Environmental Protection Agency today finalized new national air quality
standards for particle “soot” pollution that ignore the overwhelming medical
and scientific consensus that the standards need to be substantially strengthened
to protect Americans from this deadly air pollutant. National air quality standards are the backbone
of the Clean Air Act and thus efforts to reduce air pollution nationwide.
“We are
extremely disappointed in today’s decision by the Bush administration to turn
its back on the clear scientific facts about this deadly pollutant in order to
once again do the bidding of big polluters.
This decision will affect Americans’ health more than any other EPA decision
this year, and the Bush administration completely dropped the ball,” said Environment
California Field Organizer Moira Chapin.
EPA's own staff scientists and independent
scientific advisors all recommended stronger standards than the ones announced
today. U.S. PIRG, Environment
California, the American Lung Association, and numerous medical and public
health groups had urged EPA to adopt much more protective fine particle
standards, including an annual standard of 12 µg/m3 and a daily standard of 25
µg/m3. Instead, EPA failed to tighten
the annual standard of 15 µg/m3 and made just a token change to the 24-hour
standard that will have little impact on public health, lowering it to 35
µg/m3. The annual standard is
based on how much fine particle pollution is safe to breathe on a regular
basis, while the daily standard is based on how much fine particle pollution is
safe to breathe on any one given day.
“This pollutant endangers people’s lives,
but the Bush administration threw out all of the scientific evidence in order
to attempt to justify weak standards that will leave Americans gasping for
breath,” said Chapin.
Combustion sources such as power plants and diesel engines are the
largest sources of fine particle pollution.
The electric power, coal, oil, chemical, steel, mining, automotive and
diesel engine industries all lobbied against stronger particle pollution
standards.
Particle pollution is the nation’s
deadliest air pollutant and endangers people’s lives and health at levels well
below those announced by EPA today. The
tiny particles can bypass the body’s natural defenses, such as
coughing and sneezing, and lodge deep in the lungs or even pass into the
bloodstream, causing serious respiratory and cardiovascular problems, such as asthma
attacks, heart attacks, lung cancer, strokes, and premature death.
“Once again, the Bush administration put politics above
science and the law to the detriment of public health and our environment,” concluded
Chapin.
