Disregarding
its own science advisors, the Bush administration today largely
rejected tightening limits on dangerous particle pollution. Required by
the courts to consider new national air quality standards for fine
particle pollution, the administration proposed a very minor change to
the standards that will protect only an additional 3 percent of the
U.S. population.
National
air quality standards are the foundation for all of the nation’s work
to reduce air pollution, making today’s decision one of the most
important that the Bush administration will make on air quality issues.
“Today’s
decision to ignore mountains of medical research showing that air
pollution causes serious health problems will have devastating
consequences for the health of millions of Americans,” stated Diane E.
Brown, Executive Director for the Arizona Public Interest Research
Group (Arizona PIRG).
EPA
rejected tightening the “annual” fine particle standard, opting instead
only to slightly lower the “daily” standard to 35 micrograms per cubic
meter (µg/m3), despite contrary recommendations from its own
independent Clean Air Act Scientific Advisory Committee and EPA staff
scientists.
The
Clean Air Act requires that national air quality standards be based
strictly on the health effects of the pollutants. More than 2,000
peer-reviewed studies have been published since the fine particle
standards were first adopted in 1997, linking particle pollution to
asthma attacks, heart and lung disease, and death. Many of the studies
show adverse health effects at exposures well below the current annual
standard of 15 µg/m3 and daily standard of 65 µg/m3.
A study published today in JAMA—the
nation’s leading medical journal—found that long-term exposure to
particle pollution causes heart disease by hardening, narrowing, and
clogging the arteries.
Coal-fired
power plants and diesel vehicles are the largest sources of fine
particle pollution. The tiny particles can lodge deep in the lungs or
pass directly into the bloodstream, causing serious respiratory and
cardiovascular problems, including an estimated 60,000 premature deaths
each year. EPA estimates that particle pollution shortens the lives of
its victims by an average of 14 years.
The
current fine particle standards protect only 56 million Americans;
EPA’s proposal would protect just 9 million more people, or an
additional 3 percent of the population. Arizona PIRG supports an annual
standard of 12 µg/m3 and a daily standard of 25 µg/m3, which would
protect an additional 109 million Americans and reduce premature deaths
from particle pollution in nine cities studied by EPA by an estimated
92 percent.
The
Bush administration is under a court order to finalize the new
standards by September 27, 2006. The PIRGs plan to use upcoming public
hearings on the proposal to urge the administration to substantially
strengthen the standards.
