The recent announcement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the federal government plans to strengthen the nation’s air quality standards for deadly fine particle pollution, or soot, is, to some degree, a sign of progress. The Trump administration, after all, ignored the science and refused to update these life-saving health standards in 2020.
But the Biden administration’s proposal does no better in one important regard. While the EPA proposed tightening the annual limit on this lung-damaging type of pollution, also known as PM2.5, the agency said it planned to make no updates to the 24-hour limit on soot — which is the standard designed to protect people from short-term spikes in unhealthy air quality.
That is at odds with the advice of the agency’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. A majority of that panel of experts recommended strengthening the 24-hour standard based on health studies showing that the current level “is not adequately protective” against illness and death.
