EPA Smog Rule is Good for Well, Pretty Much Everyone

By John Noël, National Oil and Gas Program Coordinator - Follow John on Twitter (@Noel_Johnny) On Thursday I testified at the EPA smog pollution hearing on what seemed like a no-brainer proposal. EPA plans to strengthen its smog standards to reflect the most recent science on the devastating impacts of air pollution. This is a good thing for everyone who breathes. Tackling this crippling form of power plant pollution is incredibly important and should be supported by everyone. Clean Water Action strongly supports EPA’s pollution reduction plan and we urged the Agency to set the smog protections at 60 parts per billion to provide the greatest protections for public health possible under federal law. A few of the most blatant health impacts linked to smog include chronic asthma and other respiratory and lung diseases, reproductive and developmental harm, and even premature death. This rule is critical because it protects our society’s most vulnerable: children. Kids are at the greatest health risk from air pollution because they are more likely to be active outdoors and their lungs are still developing. Asthma strikes nearly one out of every 10 school children in the United States and is the number one health issue that causes kids to miss school. Smog pollution from power plants disproportionately affects communities of color. A 2011 analysis of U.S. populations and air quality found that African Americans and Latinos were more likely to live in counties that had worse problems with particle pollution (aka smog). African Americans were also more likely to live in counties with worse smog pollution, have nearly two times the rates of current asthma as white children, and are four times as likely to die from it. According to EPA’s own analysis, a 60 ppb standard would prevent roughly 1.8 million asthma attacks, 1.9 million missed school days, 6,400 premature deaths. New, stronger standards for smog pollution will clean up our air and reduce pollution-related illness; millions of Americans with asthma and other respiratory ailments will breathe easier. A healthy and sustainable future is what we all deserve. The American Lung Association, American Public Health Association and the American Thoracic Society have all joined the call for reforming the standards, while the other side has failed to produce any health studies or data contradicting the scientific consensus on the need for stronger smog standards. A small portion of power plant operators and trade associations, profiting off outdated health standards, should not get a pollution pass in 2015, especially with the mountain of evidence supporting the health benefits of these reforms. Let the opposition voices fade into irrelevance as the rest of America faces the challenge head on and continues to work for a just transition towards a healthy future for everyone.