TALLAHASSEE—The Environmental Protection Agency today finalized new national air
quality standards for particle “soot” pollution that ignore the
overwhelming medical and scientific consensus that the standards need
to be substantially strengthened to protect Americans from this deadly
air pollutant. National air quality standards are the backbone of the
Clean Air Act and thus efforts to reduce air pollution nationwide.
“We
are extremely disappointed in today’s decision by the Bush
administration to turn its back on the clear scientific facts about
this deadly pollutant in order to once again do the bidding of big
polluters. This decision will affect Americans’ health more than any
other EPA decision this year, and the Bush administration completely
dropped the ball,” said Environment Florida Field Director Holly Binns.
EPA's
own staff scientists and independent scientific advisors all
recommended stronger standards than the ones announced today. Environment Florida, the American Lung Association, and numerous medical and public
health groups had urged EPA to adopt much more protective fine particle
standards, including an annual standard of 12 µg/m3 and a daily
standard of 25 µg/m3. Instead, EPA failed to tighten the annual
standard of 15 µg/m3 and made just a token change to the 24-hour
standard that will have little impact on public health, lowering it to
35 µg/m3. The annual standard is based on how much fine particle
pollution is safe to breathe on a regular basis, while the daily
standard is based on how much fine particle pollution is safe to
breathe on any one given day.
“This
pollutant endangers people’s lives, but the Bush administration threw
out all of the scientific evidence in order to attempt to justify weak
standards that will leave Americans gasping for breath,” said Binns.
Combustion
sources such as power plants and diesel engines are the largest sources
of fine particle pollution. The electric power, coal, oil, chemical,
steel, mining, automotive and diesel engine industries all lobbied
against stronger particle pollution standards.
Particle
pollution is the nation’s deadliest air pollutant and endangers
people’s lives and health at levels well below those announced by EPA
today. The tiny particles can bypass the body’s natural defenses, such
as coughing and sneezing, and lodge deep in the lungs or even pass into
the bloodstream, causing serious respiratory and cardiovascular
problems, such as asthma attacks, heart attacks, lung cancer, strokes,
and premature death.
“Once
again, the Bush administration put politics above science and the law
to the detriment of public health and our environment,” concluded Binns.
