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Expert Blog › Vijay Limaye


WE NEED THE CLEAN AIR ACT, NOW MORE THAN EVER

May 05, 2020 Vijay Limaye


A NEW REPORT POINTS TO HUGE HEALTH AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF THIS LANDMARK LAW,
BUT WE MUST DEFEND AND STRENGTHEN IT.



Ozone smog pollution remains a threat in many parts of the country, including
Los Angeles (Credit: Ron Reiring)

As the United States observes Air Quality Awareness Week, a new report
commissioned by NRDC highlights the landmark achievements of the Clean Air Act
to protect our health. Since its near-unanimous passage by Congress 50 years
ago, this law has delivered on its intent to reduce air pollution, improve
health, and extend the lifespan for people all around the country. The new
report finds that pollution reductions due to Clean Air Act programs will
prevent up to 370,000 premature deaths in 2020, growing to up to 457,000 avoided
premature deaths by 2030. But our continued enjoyment of those air quality and
health benefits, estimated to outweigh costs by a factor of more than 30, is now
in peril due to the Trump administration’s aggressive assault on the scientific
underpinnings of this law.

AIR POLLUTION ENDANGERS HEALTH AND PROSPERITY

The science is clear: clean air saves lives. It also contributes to economic
prosperity, by reducing healthcare costs and boosting worker productivity. The
deadliest form of air pollution, called fine particulate matter or soot, is
especially harmful because these microscopic particles can penetrate deep into
our lungs and enter the bloodstream. From there, they can damage key organ
systems in our bodies: fine particles contribute to disease in our hearts,
lungs, brains, and kidneys-- and that’s just a partial list. We’re learning more
about the links between short- and long-term exposure to polluted air and health
problems, even at levels well below current Clean Air Act limits.



But even with the mountains of evidence demonstrating these serious health
dangers and the monumental costs of air pollution-related diseases on healthcare
spending, our country’s continued progress in delivering cleaner air for all is
far from a foregone conclusion.

CLEAN AIR IS NOT A GIVEN

Despite President Trump’s claim that the U.S. has the “cleanest air” in the
world, the alarming truth is that many people in this country are still
breathing in unhealthy levels of air pollution, day after day. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that huge swaths of our
population live, work, and play in “non-attainment” areas, where pollution
levels exceed Clean Air Act limits set to protect our health. For example, the
EPA estimates that more than 20 million people reside in counties with annual
fine particle pollution levels above the legal limit; that number balloons to
122 million people for ground-level ozone air pollution, also known as smog.

As worrying as those numbers are, things seem to be getting even worse. Air
pollution levels around the country have risen under the Trump administration
for a number of reasons, including reduced vigilance and enforcement against
polluters at the EPA; deadly smoke generated by unprecedented, climate
change-fueled wildfires in the western United States; and summertime extreme
heat episodes that continue to break records and trigger air pollution spikes.



TRUMP EPA GRANTS NEW FAVORS TO POLLUTERS

Rather than take stronger steps to limit air pollution and fight the climate
crisis, the Trump administration is waging an all-out assault on the Clean Air
Act. Over the past five weeks alone, the EPA proposed rules that would enable
more deadly air pollution from cars and coal-fired power plants, and it declined
to set a stronger fine particle air pollution limit despite an assessment from
its own scientists that such a move could help to prevent more than 12,500
premature deaths each year.

But the Trump administration has not stopped there: it is now seeking to censor
scientific research, ignore key public health studies, and undermine the
cost-benefit math that underlies the federal government’s decades-long approach
to pollution control. The Trump administration denies the established science of
climate change, and resists actions to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,
even though such moves would substantially reduce air pollution and improve
health in the near term and help us to avoid billions of dollars in climate
damages to lives, infrastructure, and property for years to come.



CLEAN AIR PROTECTIONS VITAL DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The Trump administration’s outrageous pro-polluter agenda is now under renewed
scrutiny because the coronavirus pandemic disproportionately harms the most
vulnerable amongst us. A preliminary study from Harvard researchers, still
undergoing peer-review, has identified significantly higher COVID-19 death rates
in U.S. counties with even slightly elevated levels of soot air pollution. Their
findings build on evidence linking long-term air pollution exposure to deadly
acute respiratory distress syndrome in older Americans. In another preliminary
study out of Europe, researchers have detected RNA from this new coronavirus on
air pollution particles.

These emerging lines of evidence are troubling given the known population health
risks posed by air pollution, and the fact that the World Health Organization
estimates that about 90 percent of the global population breathes unhealthy air.
But that striking statistic obscures the inequitable distribution of air
pollution around the world, with countries like India struggling with
chronically high pollution burdens.

In the United States, disparities in air pollution exposures burden low-income
communities and communities of color, driving major health disparities. A new
analysis from NRDC scientists highlights the fact that millions of people live
in U.S. counties with both high concentrations of polluting facilities and high
death rates from COVID-19.

Instead of stepping up to protect public health during this historic crisis,
political leaders at the EPA have given polluters a free pass to suspend
pollution monitoring and reporting. The Trump administration’s assault on our
nation’s clean air protections is unconscionable, especially now.



ENSURING CLEAN AIR FOR ALL

With millions of Americans still exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution, it’s
well past time for the EPA to prioritize people over polluters. As this new
report shows, the Clean Air Act has propelled tremendous progress in improving
air quality and public health, but there is still important work left to do.
Each of us must demand that the EPA obey the law and enact equitable,
commonsense protections from air pollution that will allow us to breathe easier,
address the climate crisis, and save money in the process.


ABOUT THE AUTHORS


VIJAY LIMAYE

Senior Scientist, Science Office

WANT TO JOIN THE FIGHT? WE'RE HIRING.




RELATED BLOG POSTS

Blog Post


POLLUTED AIR MAKES THE CORONAVIRUS EVEN DEADLIER

A new study links more polluted air to higher COVID-19 death rates. It is
crucial that we reduce the heavy burden of pollution around the country.

Blog Post


U.S. AIR POLLUTION IS “COMPLETELY OUTRAGEOUS"

Business, health, and government leaders from around the country and around the
world gathered last week to step up their fight against the harms of climate
change. It's time for President Trump to do the same.

Blog Post


CLEAN AIR VS. DIRTY INTERFERENCE

Science underpinning the Clean Air Act is under attack.


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