CASAC to EPA: Strengthen the PM Standards, 3-23-06
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s science advisors have officially asked EPA Administrator Steve Johnson to reconsider the agency’s proposed national air quality standards for particle soot.
In a March 21 letter, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Chair Rogene Henderson noted that EPA had proposed a weaker national health standard for particle soot than the advisors had previously recommended. Scientific studies have shown health damage when people breathe air that EPA would consider healthful, according to the letter.
“This is an unprecedented public rebuke to EPA by its independent panel of science advisors,” noted Frank O’Donnell, president of the non-profit Clean Air Watch.
“Particle soot is the most lethal air pollutant in the nation. This letter underscores our concern that EPA’s proposal was tainted by politics and economic considerations, when it should have been based on science,” O’Donnell added.
The advisors took EPA to task on several major issues, including:
– Urging the EPA to set a tougher standard to govern a person’s annual exposure to fine-particle soot;
– Faulting the agency for exempting mining and agriculture from standards for bigger soot particles;
– Urging EPA to monitor particle pollution in both urban and rural areas; and
– Urging EPA to set a sub-daily secondary standard to protect visibility.
“The next step is up to EPA Administrator Steve Johnson,” said O’Donnell.
“Will he stand up and do the right thing - and pay attention to his own science advisors? Or will he continue to bow to political pressure from the White House?”
The CASAC letter states:
“The CASAC requests reconsideration of the proposed ruling for the level of the annual PM2.5 NAAQS so that the standard is set within the range previously recommended by the PM Panel, i.e., 13 to 14 µg/m3. The CASAC also recommends that the proposed 24-hour PM10-2.5 primary standard be accompanied by a national monitoring program for PM10-2.5 in both urban and rural areas to aid in informing future health and welfare effects studies on rural dusts. Moreover, the CASAC strongly recommends expansion of our knowledge of the toxicity of PM10-2.5 dusts rather than exempting specific industries (e.g., mining, agriculture). Finally, the CASAC requests that the sub-daily secondary standard to protect visibility, as recommended both in the PM Staff Paper and by the CASAC, be favorably reconsidered.”
The letter is available from EPA [www.epa.gov/sab] online.
