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EPA Pollution Proposal Falls Short of Health Expectations

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 February 2006, 15:00 CST

By Arias, Donya C

THE Clean Air Act's standards for particulate pollution would be revised under a plan proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency in late December, a move criticized by health and environmental advocates such as APHA as falling short of necessary pollution protections.

While EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said the recommendation would help the agency "continue to improve air quality and public health," others were skeptical of the plan. EPA is proposing a 24-hour standard for inhalable coarse particles to be set at 70 micrograms per cubic meter and to lower the standard for fine particles from 65 micrograms per cubic meter to 35 micrograms per cubic meter. Groups including APHA had asked EPA to set the standard much lower.

"Unfortunately, the proposal is disappointing," said American Lung Association President and Chief Executive Officer John L. Kirkwood. "It falls far short of what is necessary to protect public health. If EPA adopts the standard as proposed, the agency will have failed the most fundamental task required by the Clean Air Act - to protect public health from one of the major pollutants."

Fine paniculate matter has been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular problems such as asthma, heart attacks and early deaths in people with lung or heart disease. A study in the Dec. 21 Journal of the American Medical Association found that fine particle pollution and a high-fat diet promotes atherosclerosis, or the thickening and hardening of arteries.

EPA has had national standards for fine particles since 1997 and for coarse particles since 1987. EPA officials said the new proposed standards are based on "an extensive review of thousands of scientific studies on the risks associated with exposure to particle pollution."

A week before EPA officials announced the proposal, the group Environmental Defense released a report on preventing death and disease from particulate pollution. The report credited the Clean Air Act for helping improve the nation's air quality while urging paniculate standards to be set lower than the EPA proposal.

Also related to air quality, in late December and early January, several states joined California's effort to adopt tough greenhouse gas standards, which set limits on vehicles' tailpipe emissions.

Under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative announced on Dec. 20, a number of northeastern states agreed to implement a cap-and- trade program to lower carbon dioxide emissions. As of January, the states participating are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Oregon and Rhode Island are considering the agreement as Well.

"Our environment is a vibrant, living resource that needs to be protected," New York Gov. George Pataki said in December.

The goal of the program is to curb harmful carbon dioxide emissions and enliven the development of new technologies to reduce the dependence on foreign energy.

Under the cap-and-trade program, the participating states will issue one permit for each ton of carbon dioxide emissions allowed by the cap. Each power plant will be required to have enough permits to cover its reported emissions.

The agreement calls for at least 25 percent of each participating state's permits to be dedicated to "strategic energy or consumer benefit purposes," such as energy efficiency and new clean energy technologies.

The participating states plan to issue a draft model regulation for public comment early this year.

For more information, visit . For more on the EPA proposal, including how to submit comments, visit .

- Donya C. Arias

Copyright American Public Health Association Jan/Feb 2006

Source: Nation's Health, The

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