EPA finalizes stronger clean air standards on soot particle pollution

Feb. 7 (UPI) -- The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday finalized a much stronger air quality standard on soot, the fine particle pollution dangerous to health.

The updated rule will change the fine particulate matter standard from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to 9 micrograms.

According to the EPA that change will prevent "up to 4,500 premature deaths and 290,000 lost workdays, yielding up to $46 billion in net health benefits in 2032."

"This final air quality standard will save lives and make all people healthier, especially within America's most vulnerable and overburdened communities,'" EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement,

The EPA said for every dollar spent from this action, there could be as much as $77 " in human health benefits in 2032."

"These actions bolster the U.S. economy by deploying billions of dollars and creating good-paying jobs across the transition to cleaner technologies," the EPA statement said. "This strategy will make Americans healthier and more productive, while underpinning a manufacturing resurgence in America."

In 2020 a decision was made to retain fine particulate air quality standards from 2012. But the EPA said Wednesday that was reconsidered "because the available scientific evidence and technical information indicated that the standards may not be adequate to protect public health and welfare."

The finalized rule was proposed in January 2023.

The American lung Association said when the rule was proposed it was disappointed that the standard wasn't improved to 8 micrograms per cubic meter.

That 8 microgram level was proposed by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, but the EPA didn't follow those expert recommendations.

Particle pollution like soot especially impacts people with heart or lung disease, children, older adults and people with conditions like asthma.

"President Biden and EPA Administrator Regan's new soot pollution limits will save thousands of lives and slash air pollution for people across the country, especially those disproportionately impacted by deadly particle pollution," The Climate Action Campaign's Margie Alt said in a statement.

Dr. Doris Browne, President of the National Medical Association, said in a statement said the EPA and Biden administration deserve thanks for "taking this vital step to curb soot pollution -- a dangerous and even deadly pollutant that has taken an oversized toll on underrepresented and overburdened communities less equipped to deal with its severe health impacts."