The Biden administration on Friday proposed to tighten limits on fine particulate matter, a deadly air pollutant also known as soot.
It would be the first time in more than a decade that the federal government cracks down on a contaminant responsible for thousands of premature deaths every year.
Fine particulate matter comes from smokestacks, construction, trucks, power plants and other industrial activity. It has a diameter of no more than 2.5 micrometers, one-thirtieth the width of a human hair, and can become embedded in the lungs. It is linked to heart attacks, stroke and respiratory ailments.
The draft rule by the Environmental Protection Agency would tighten the current limit, which has been in place since 2012, by as much as 25 percent. The administration estimates that it could prevent as many as 4,200 premature deaths annually, as well as 270,000 missed workdays per year, and result in up to $43 billion in net health and economic benefits by 2032.
Michael Regan, the E.P.A. administrator, said the new rule was central to the Biden administration’s effort to address environmental justice. Poor and minority communities are disproportionately exposed to soot and other air pollution because they are frequently located near highways, power plants and other industrial facilities...more
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