New EPA Proposal Still Leaves PA Exposed To Lethal Soot Pollution, Scientists Say

PENNSYLVANIA — Scientists say that soot pollution will continue to kill tens of thousands of Americans, including many Pennsylvanians, unless the new restrictions proposed at the federal level on Friday morning are significantly tightened. The move from President Joe Biden's administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency comes in the wake of years of lawsuits filed by environmental groups arguing the government was not doing enough to regulate industrial pollution.

The EPA's proposal would reduce the standard from the current 12 micrograms per cubic meter to a level between 9 and 10 micrograms per cubic meter. But an estimated 20,000 more lives a year would be saved if the EPA adopted the stricter standard of 8 micrograms, according to a 2022 Environmental Defense Fund study.

"We should be able to go about our daily lives without a dose of toxic pollution," Zachary Barber, a representative of the PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center, said in a statement. "But for too many Pennsylvanians, the air we breathe makes us sick. Soot – particulate matter – is especially pernicious, easily entering our lungs, where it can do lifelong damage."

Barber added that "it's good news" that soot is on the EPA's agenda — particularly after President Trump's EPA heads included former coal industry executives that stripped protections — but it's not enough.

The EPA calls between 9 and 10 micrograms "acceptable" fine particulate pollution.

“This proposal to deliver stronger health protections against particulate matter is grounded in the best available science, advancing the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to scientific integrity and a rigorous scientific process," EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement.

PennEnvironment says that in Pennsylvania alone, millions live in areas that see 50 days a year of elevated soot pollution. Breathing in such fine particulate matter at these levels can cause heart and lung issues, brain damage, Parkinson's disease, and increased risk of COVID-19, among other risks, experts say.

The impacts of this pollution is felt most strongly in low income communities, and especially Black and Hispanic-majority areas. Black seniors are three times more likely to die from it, one report states.

There will be a 60 day public comment period on the EPA's proposal before the new standards are finalized toward the end of the year.