WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled new standards Wednesday to slash fine particulate matter pollution, or soot, a decision federal officials and scientists said could save thousands of lives, extend the lives of many others and generate $46 billion in overall health benefits nationwide.
The pollutants targeted under the new rule are microscopic particles often invisible to the naked eye and significantly narrower than a human hair.
They are flung into the air from industrial sites, heavy-duty manufacturing plants and running vehicles. They also come from forest fires and from burning fossil fuels, among other sources. Eventually fine particulate matter can lodge in humans’ lungs and their bloodstreams, leading to respiratory problems.
“Soot pollution is one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution, and it’s linked to a range of serious, potentially deadly illnesses, including asthma and heart attacks,” Michael Regan, the EPA administrator, told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
While air pollution in New Jersey has broadly improved in recent years, often outpacing other states, soot pollution spiked, and it generally affects people of color and low-income residents across the Garden State more severely than the broader population.
New targets for states
Under the new standards, which are more stringent than those in place today, states will be required to write and submit plans to the EPA detailing how they will meet the targets set out under the regulation, including in regions with higher levels of soot pollution than the agency allows.
EPA officials projected the soot rule, which faces opposition from industry groups, would prevent as many as 4,500 early deaths, about 300,000 workdays lost to illness and a net benefit of $46 billion for public health through 2032.
Industry groups including the American Forest & Paper Association, which represents loggers and lumber mills, came out against the proposal as the EPA was writing it.
“The impact of this pollution oftentimes disproportionately affects our most vulnerable communities, including low-income communities, communities of color, children, older adults, and those who struggle with heart or lung conditions,” Regan said, referencing soot pollution.
Fifty-four percent of the roughly 120 million people living in counties across the U.S. with dangerous levels of pollution are people of color, according to a 2023 study the American Lung Association, a national health advocacy group, completed.
Who’s most affected?
Doris Browne, former president of the National Medical Association, which represents Black physicians and patients, said Black people bear the brunt of soot pollution.
“Black Americans experience more than three times as many attributable deaths per 100,000 population as compared to other racial groups,” Browne said. When people get sick from air pollution — like a hypothetical school bus driver with asthma — their sickness creates cascading effects, she said. “That driver missing work impacts students on the route, the parents trying to get to work themselves, the classrooms that need those healthy, attentive students,” Brown said.
Industry groups including the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Forest & Paper Association, which represents loggers and lumber mills, came out against the proposal as the EPA was writing it.
A 30-second advertisement the National Association of Manufacturers ran on television in the fall predicted the rule, which had not been finalized, threatens $200 billion in economic damage and may “restrict growth and investment across America.”
The ad ran in November in the Washington, D.C. area.
