Biden EPA to tighten soot standards Trump left unchanged
By E.A. Crunden | 10/08/2021 03:39 PM EST
EPA career employees have again found grounds to tighten national soot standards after the Trump administration opted to leave them unchanged.
The agency said this afternoon that evidence warrants cutting the annual average exposure standard for soot from 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air to as low as 8 micrograms. EPA also said it tentatively sees grounds for cutting the 24-hour standard from 35 micrograms down to 30 micrograms, although any such tightening would hinge on a different policy approach.
According to a draft policy assessment, career employees found that "available evidence and information suggests that both long- and short-term PM2.5 exposures are associated with adverse health effects, including more severe effects such as mortality." Soot is also known as PM2.5, or very fine particulate matter. EPA concluded that the current standards must be tightened in order to protect the public.
The decision has major implications for both air quality and environmental justice goals.
https://www.eenews.net/articles/biden-epa-to-tighten-soot-standards-trump-left-unchanged/