Letter urges EPA to act on its own data, doubling number of lives saved within ten years
Washington (March 28, 2023) – Senator Edward J.
Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee
on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, and Representatives Lisa Blunt
Rochester (DE) and Nanette Barragán (CA-44) today led their colleagues in
writing to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael
Regan urging EPA to strengthen the proposed air quality standards to reduce
fine particulate matter pollution, also known as soot pollution, and protect
communities from its related health issues, including cardiovascular and respiratory
disease, infant mortality, and premature death. Toxic air pollution
disproportionately impacts people of color, frontline environmental justice
communities, and lower-income neighborhoods that are already bearing the brunt
of environmental injustice. In January, EPA announced its
proposal to update existing air quality standards and is currently accepting
public comment.
Specifically, the letter underscored the need for EPA to finalize an annual, health-based air quality standard of eight micrograms per cubic meter and a 24-hour, science-based standard of 25 micrograms per cubic meter, as opposed to EPA’s current proposal of nine and 35 micrograms per cubic meter, respectively. According to EPA’s own independent Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, adopting the recommended annual standard of eight micrograms per cubic meter would save more than twice as many lives in the year 2032 as EPA’s proposed standard.
“The federal government has an obligation to remediate
environmental injustices that for too long have been shouldered most by Black,
Brown, and Indigenous communities across our country,” said Senator
Markey. “No one should have to breathe unhealthy, toxic pollution on
their doorstep or in their backyard. EPA has an opportunity this year to
strengthen our nation’s air quality standards, save countless lives, and put
health and environmental justice front-and-center in our fight against toxic
pollution.”
“Soot and smog pollution are some of the most dangerous pollutants that
frontline and fenceline communities across our country face,” said
Representative Blunt Rochester. “That’s why I’m proud to join my
colleagues in a bicameral effort to urge EPA to act on the data we have and
save lives within those communities.”
“Communities of color in my district are disproportionally impacted by soot and
smog pollution from ports and refineries,” said Representative
Barragán. “This pollution causes serious health issues like asthma
attacks and cancer. We must work to help these communities breathe
cleaner air, and a stronger particulate matter standard from EPA can save lives
and improve public health outcomes in communities burdened by pollution.”
In their letter to EPA Administrator Reagan, the lawmakers wrote, “Strengthening particle pollution standards will improve air quality from coast to coast and will start to address historic inequities and injustices in communities suffering from cumulative exposure to multiple pollutants.”
The letter continued, “People and their families have waited far
too long to breathe healthy air. The science is clear and we urge you to move
swiftly to finalize these standards so that we can finally begin to achieve the
promise of clean air for everyone.”
Additional signatories in the Senate include Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Richard
Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bob Menendez
(D-N.J.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
Last Congress, Senator Markey introduced his Technology
Assessment for Air Quality Management Act to authorize $55
million over the next five years for EPA to improve, evaluate, and provide
information on federal air quality management strategies, as well as his Environmental
Justice Air Quality Monitoring Act, which would authorize $100 million
annually for EPA to establish a five-year pilot program for hyperlocal air
quality monitoring systems in environmental justice communities. The Inflation
Reduction Act included $3 million for air quality sensors in
low-income and disadvantaged communities, as called for in the Environmental
Justice Air Quality Monitoring Act, as well as $117.5 million for air
pollution monitoring, $50 million for multipollutant monitoring, $60 million
for diesel emissions reductions, $40 million for air pollution permitting
resources, $25 million for Clean Air Act (CAA) grants, and $15
million to reduce emissions from wood heaters.
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