EPA Draft Rule Seeks No Changes in PM 2.5 Standard

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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Despite mounting scientific evidence that small particulate matter in the air carries negative health consequences, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Washington, D.C.) on April 14 decided not to change the standards for fine particulate matter (PM), which is emitted by power plants, internal combustion engines and various industrial processes, including Oil & Gas Production and Mining.

One of those scientific studies, carried out by Harvard University, said higher levels of PM increased the number of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic. That study is in the process of being peer-reviewed for potential publication by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers at Harvard analyzed 3,080 counties in the U.S. and found that higher levels of the tiny particles in air known as PM 2.5 were associated with higher death rates from COVID-19. "The results of this paper suggest that long-term exposure to air pollution increases vulnerability to experiencing the most severe COVID-19 outcomes," the study's authors wrote.

The public will have 60 days to comment on the EPA's draft ruling.

Very small, or fine, particles are released into the air--or are created--by emissions from many natural and man-made sources, including power plants, according to a backgrounder from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) (Washington, D.C.), the trade group representing shareholder-owned electric utilities. One of the particulate matter categories is PM 2.5, which has a diameter of 2.5 micrometers and smaller, roughly 1/30th the diameter of an average human hair.

The EEI background statement noted that although electric utilities typically remove more than 95% of direct fine particle emissions produced by their power plants, reactions in the atmosphere involving emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) create sulfates and nitrates, two of the many types of PM 2.5. The power sector has reduced emissions of the SO2 and NOx "precursors" of PM 2.5 by 92% and 84%, respectively, since 1990.

PM is regulated by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), part of the Clean Air Act. It requires the EPA to reassess applicable PM standards every five years to protect public health and welfare.

The current standard, last revised in 2012, limited PM 2.5 emissions to 12 micrograms per cubic meter. A number of EPA scientists have estimated that lowering the PM 2.5 standard to nine micrograms per cubic meter could save over 10,000 American lives per year.

In a telephone call with reporters last week, EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler said the scientific evidence about PM's impact on public health and welfare was insufficient to tighten the current emissions standard. "We believe the current standard is protective of public health," Wheeler said. "Through the five-year review process, we've identified a lot of uncertainties. Through those uncertainties, we've identified that the current standard does not need to be changed."

Republican officials and industry leaders praised the administration's decision not to tighten the particulate matter standards. EPA posted statements from nearly two dozen officials on the April 14 decision to leave PM levels in place. Congressman Rob Bishop (Utah), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, commended EPA Administrator Wheeler and the Administration "for partnering with states, local, and tribal governments in improving our air quality while allowing economic growth to continue."

On the other hand, public health officials were sharply critical of the EPA's decision. They said the move defies scientific research, including the work of the EPA's own public health experts, which indicates that PM pollution contributes to tens of thousands of premature deaths annually, and that even a slight tightening of controls on fine soot could save thousands of American lives, according to a report in The New York Times.

In early April, as the EPA decision was being finalized, researchers at Harvard University released the first nationwide study linking long-term exposure to PM 2.5 and COVID-19 death rates. The study found that a person living for decades in a county with high levels of fine particulate matter is 15% more likely to die from COVID-19 than someone in a region with one unit less of the fine particulate pollution, according to the Times report.

Paul Billings, a senior vice president of the American Lung Association, noted that the Harvard study came on top of other reports that linked the pollutant to premature deaths. "This pollution already kills tens of thousands of Americans every year. This is an affirmation of a standard that already does not provide adequate safeguards to public health," he said.

In a September 2019 draft scientific assessment of the risks associated with keeping or strengthening the PM 2.5 standard, career scientists at the EPA estimated that the current standard is "associated with 45,000 deaths" annually. The scientists wrote that if the rule were tightened, annual deaths would fall by about 27%, or 12,150 people a year.

"The EPA's own scientific report is overwhelmingly in support of a tougher standard. It over and over again shows that the evidence of harmful public health effects from PM 2.5 are much greater than were previously known," said Richard Lazarus, a professor of environmental law at Harvard.

Critics of the rule said they would get the study entered into the public record during the comment period.

In a letter to Wheeler, 13 Senate Democrats wrote: "Today, the EPA announced its decision to maintain current national ambient air quality standards that EPA's own scientists say fail to protect public health--and that research links with higher COVID-19 mortality." With Democrats in the minority in the Senate, hearings are not likely. But in the House of Representatives, where Democrats are the majority party, hearings into the EPA's decision seem likely, once Congress is able to resume in-person business.

The PM 2.5 decision comes as the Trump administration is moving quickly to streamline environmental regulation. Regulations finalized less than 60 days before November's election day can be reviewed by Congress under the Congressional Review Act. The same week the EPA decided not to change the PM 2.5 standard, it also dramatically revised the way it calculates benefits from the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), aimed at coal-fired power plants. The changes, if finalized, would make it much harder to regulate air emissions from power plants, critics charged.

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