2The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing tougher air-quality standards for soot pollution, and a Pennsylvania clean-air advocacy group said it is overdue.
Soot is fine particulate matter from power plants, vehicles and refineries, and the EPA wants to revise its National Ambient Air Quality Standards for soot.
Mandy Warner, director of climate and clean air policy for the Environmental Defense Fund, said it is one of the deadliest air pollutants and Pennsylvania has a lot at stake, not only from pollution produced within its borders, but the polluted air blowing into the state from elsewhere.
“There was a study published in 2020 by MIT that found that Pennsylvania has the most premature deaths per capita caused by air pollution — which is largely driven by soot pollution — of any state,” Warner explained. “The study found that air pollution caused about 4,800 Pennsylvanians to die early.”
The EPA said the plan reflects the latest health data and scientific evidence, but it is accepting feedback based on other suggestions as well. The agency held public hearings in February and is taking public comments until March 28.
The EPA proposal would reduce the maximum allowable amount of fine particulate pollution from 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air, to nine or 10. Warner said, based on scientific data, her organization supports an even tougher standard of eight micrograms.
“Analysis shows that’ll save up to 20,000 lives a year, if we set the standard at that level,” Warner pointed out. “That’s the most protective level, and that’s where we think EPA should be focusing their standards. We know that soot pollution as it currently exists in the United States is attributed to tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of deaths annually.”
Warner added soot pollution is linked to myriad harmful health effects.
“It can contribute to asthma attacks. It contributes to heart ailments. We know it’s linked to other things like COPD, Parkinson’s disease, and even low birth weight,” Warner outlined.
She emphasized the EPA’s proposal is a step in the right direction, even as her group and others want to see stronger action to minimize air pollution.
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