air quality Archives — EnviroPolitics Blog

EPA adopts stronger soot standards for an expected $46B in health benefits

From an EPA news release

The USEPA today finalized a significantly stronger air quality standard to better protect America’s families, workers, and communities from the dangerous and costly health effects of fine particle pollution, also known as soot.

By strengthening the annual health-based national ambient air quality standard for fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) from a level of 12 micrograms per cubic meter to 9 micrograms per cubic meter, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s updated standard will save lives — preventing up to 4,500 premature deaths and 290,000 lost workdays, yielding up to $46 billion in net health benefits in 2032. For every $1 spent from this action, there could be as much as $77 in human health benefits in 2032.

Recommendations of the independent advisors comprising the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and CASAC PM expert panel were considered when deciding on whether to strengthen the PM standards.

Based on the scientific evidence, technical information, recommendations from CASAC, and public comments on the 2023 proposed standards, EPA has set two primary standards for PM2.5, which work together to protect public health: the annual standard, which EPA has revised, and a 24-hour standard, which the agency retained. EPA also retained the current primary 24-hour standard for PM10, which protects against coarse particles. EPA is also not changing the secondary (welfare-based) standards for fine particles and coarse particles at this time.

A broad and growing body of science links particle pollution to a range of serious and sometimes deadly illnesses. Many studies show that these microscopic fine particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and that long- and short-term exposure can lead to asthma attacks, missed days of school or work, heart attacks, expensive emergency room visits and premature death.

Due to the efforts that states, Tribes, industry, communities, and EPA have already taken to reduce dangerous pollution in communities across the country, 99% of U.S. counties are projected to meet the more protective standard in 2032, likely the earliest year that states would need to meet the revised standard. That’s even before accounting for additional actions on the horizon to implement the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act investments and to update source-specific emission standards.

See projected progress in 2032.

EPA is also revising the Air Quality Index to improve public communications about the health risks from PM_2.5exposures.

Some PM is emitted directly from combustion sources, construction sites, industrial processes, and older diesel engines, while other particles are formed in the atmosphere in complex chemical reactions with other pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that are emitted from power plants, gasoline and diesel engines, and certain industrial processes. Particle pollution from industrial processes and other sources is controllable, with readily available and cost-effective technologies to manage emissions, and EPA will build on decades of experience in providing flexible options to states and Tribes across the implementation process.

EPA carefully considered extensive public input as it determined the final standards. The agency held a virtual public hearing and received about 700,000 written comments before finalizing today’s updated air quality standards.

See more information on today’s final standards at Final Reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter.

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EPA soot rule could save 4,200 lives but cost Biden his reelection

*Steam billows from a paper mill in Rumford, Maine as a worker crosses a pedestrian bridge. (AP)*

By Maxine Joselow, Washington Post, January 19, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to significantly strengthen limits on fine particle matter, one of the nation’s most widespread deadly air pollutants, even as industry groups warn that the standard could erase manufacturing jobs across the country.

Several major companies, trade associations, and some Democratic lobbyists are trying to preempt the rule by suggesting it could harm President Biden’s reelection chances in key swing states. They say the tougher standard for soot and other pollutants could destroy factory jobs and investments in the Midwest and elsewhere, undermining Biden’s pitch that he has revitalized these areas more than Donald Trump, the GOP presidential front-runner.

Public health advocates strongly disagree with the industry’s assertions. They say strengthening the soot standard would yield significant medical and economic benefits by preventing thousands of hospitalizations, lost workdays, and lost lives, particularly in communities of color that are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air.

Read the full story here

EPA soot rule could save 4,200 lives but cost Biden his reelection Read More »

Air quality not too good today in several NJ counties

By Ali Reid and Lanette Espy, TV 12

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has issued an air quality alert set to be in effect until 11 p.m. Friday. NJDEP says certain parts of the region – across Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Union and eastern Passaic counties – may approach unhealthy standards. A number of factors could contribute to this.

Officials say air pollution concentrations could become unhealthy for sensitive groups such as children, people suffering from asthma heart disease or other lung diseases, and older senior citizens.

A wildfire continues to burn at Bass River State Forest in southern New Jersey. People have reported seeing and smelling smoke as it’s reached at least 5,000 acres. This may also cause some air quality issues.

Air quality not too good today in several NJ counties Read More »

EPA to revise incinerator emission standards following a lawsuit

Exterior of the U.S. EPA headquarters with two flags flying

By Jacob Wallace, Editor, Waste Dive

By the end of this year, the EPA will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking for emissions standards related to municipal solid waste incinerators under the terms of a draft consent decree reached with environmental groups. The decree was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on May 23.

Groups, including Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and Ironbound Community Corp., sued the EPA in January 2022 over its alleged failure under the Clean Air Act to revisit the rules every five years. The decree would require EPA to finalize a new rule by November 30, 2024.

Environmental groups hope the draft decree could tighten federal emissions standards for 68 MSW incinerators, leading to tighter regulations for nine pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, dioxins, and nitrous oxides. The suit is part of a broader effort by environmental groups who say the EPA is behind the times in regulating several categories of waste incinerators, including MSW and medical waste.

Read the full story here

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U.S. Steel to pay $1.5 million penalty, make improvements to settle air-pollution violations at Braddock, Pa. steelmaking plant

From USEPA’s Region 2

PHILADELPHIA (May 17, 2022) – The U.S. Steel Corporation will pay a $1.5 million penalty and make extensive improvements at its steel production facility in Braddock, Pennsylvania, as part of a settlement announced today with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) for longstanding air pollution violations.

The consent decree addresses numerous Clean Air Act violations dating back to 2016 at the steelmaking facility known as Edgar Thomson Works, which occupies about 250 acres and employs about 900 workers. The one-mile radius around the facility is an area of potential environmental justice concern, exceeding the state average for the percentage of low-income populations and for minority populations.

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“EPA is committed to protecting air quality in communities by ensuring companies follow the rules to protect public health,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “Too often we find that residents in closest proximity to contaminated lands are impacted by environmental injustice, suffering cumulative health impacts and economic distress. Settlements like this serve notice to companies that they must follow the law to keep workers and neighbors healthy and safe.”

“Everyone has the right to clean air and the Allegheny County Health Department continues to work to ensure that right for all residents,” said ACHD Director Dr. Debra Bogen, Director of the Allegheny County Health Department. “This settlement is another step toward that goal in Braddock and surrounding communities, many of which are designated environmental justice communities. We are pleased that a large portion of the Health Department’s share of the civil penalty will directly benefit Braddock and other Mon Valley communities that experience a disproportionate share of the environmental impact of the pollution this consent decree concerns.”

Under the settlement, U.S. Steel is required to make numerous improvements in training, monitoring, and work practices to increase compliance and timely response to air pollution. Additionally, the company is tasked with conducting studies on potential improvements to its pollution control systems.

The primary pollutant of concern is particulate matter, including PM 2.5. Particulate matter contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small that they can be inhaled and cause serious health problems. Some particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter can get deep into your lungs and some may even get into your bloodstream. Particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) pose the greatest risk to health, including susceptibility to respiratory diseases, including acute respiratory distress, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer.

Although the Pittsburgh area – which includes Braddock – continues to be plagued by air quality issues that face many metropolitan areas, the ACHD announced in April that for the second year in a row, Allegheny County has met federal air quality standards for PM2.5 at the eight air quality monitors that it monitors around the city.

The settlement announced today also includes a supplemental environmental project solely credited against ACHD’s share of the penalty in which U.S. Steel would provide funding to the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development for a specific environmental project. Specifically, U.S. Steel will provide $750,000 in funding to the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development in support of the creation of a multimodal connection trail for hikers and bicyclists that links the Great Allegheny Passage in Rankin Borough to the Westmoreland Heritage Trail in Trafford Borough through the Turtle Creek Valley. The project will create another multimodal connection to communities near U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson Work, including Rankin, Braddock, North Braddock, East Pittsburgh, Turtle Creek, Wilmerding, Monroeville, Pitcairn, and Trafford, North Versailles, East McKeesport and Wall.

ACHD, the co-plaintiff with EPA, is the local governmental entity charged with enforcement of Allegheny County’s air pollution control regulations. ACHD has participated fully in the collection of evidence, and the negotiation of the consent decree.

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Biden will allow California to set climate limits on cars. That could influence the rest of the country.

The Golden State — which has long dealt with smoggy skies — often sets environmental policy other states eventually follow

*Traffic backs up at the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge toll plaza along Interstate 80 in Oakland, Calif., in July 2019. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)*

By Dino Grandoni Washington Post

The Biden administration is expected to restore California’s authority to set its own limits on climate-warming emissions from cars, pickups, and SUVs.

Long an environmental leader among states, California often sets a precedent that the rest of the country follows. But when it came to combating climate change, the Trump administration hamstrung the Golden State by stripping it of the right to set its own rules around carbon pollution for the thousands of cars cramming the state’s freeways.

Now, the Biden administration is preparing to undo that Trump-era decision. And the reversal will resonate beyond California to the whole nation’s transportation sector.

What exactly is the Environmental Protection Agency doing?

Federal officials are preparing to restore a “waiver” to regulators in California, giving them the ability to set standards tougher than those from the federal government for the carbon dioxide that spews out of automobile tailpipes, according to two people familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the agency’s announcement.

Normally, it’s up to the federal government to cut pollution from gasoline-guzzling vehicles. Those mobile sources of emissions, after all, can cross state lines and taint the air no matter where they are made or sold.

But the law treats the country’s most populous state differently. Under the Clean Air Act, California — and California alone — can request permission from the federal government to write its own tailpipe standards if it can provide a compelling reason for doing so. More than a dozen other states have committed to following California’s lead on greenhouse gas pollution from cars.

EPA spokesman Nick Conger said the agency will announce its decision on the California waiver “in the near future.” E&E News first reported that the announcement is coming soon.

Why can California set its own rules?

In the middle of the 20th century, the skies in Los Angeles were once so polluted that, on some days, it was difficult to see even a few blocks ahead. During bad episodes, Californians complained of burning eyes and upset stomachs.

Fires, floods and free parking: California’s unending fight against climate change

California regulators realized the cars clogging its burgeoning roadways were the reason for the smog. The state sprang into action, developing the country’s first vehicle emissions standards for smog-forming pollutants in 1966.

When federal lawmakers sat down to strengthen the Clean Air Act four years later, they decided to allow California to continue writing its own rules for cars. Over time, the decision has helped spur innovation in the auto sector. Catalytic converters, “check engine” lights and other ideas born out of California’s regulatory system have been adopted in cars sold nationwide.