Amidst the president and First Lady testing positive for COVID-19, an embarrassing spectacle of a presidential "debate," and a pandemic that has now claimed more than 200,000 lives in the United States and 1 million worldwide, the West Coast wildfires have lost the attention of the national news cycle. But California and nearby states are still very much ablaze.
As I write, 70 active large fires are raging in 10 western states. More than a third of these are in California, where more than 2 million acres of land are currently burning (an area larger than the state of Delaware). Four of the five largest fires in the state’s history started in the last two months.
These historic fires have already killed at least 35 people, forced thousands to evacuate, and exposed hundreds of thousands to extremely hazardous levels of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Ambient Air Quality Standard, or maximum safe exposure level, for PM2.5 is 35 ug/m3 (averaged over a 24-hour period). On one particularly smoky day, PM2.5 concentrations near Mammoth Lakes, California, reached 660 ug/m3, nearly 19 times greater than EPA’s health standard.
A wealth of evidence links PM2.5 exposure to adverse health outcomes, such as heart and lung disease and premature death. Children, the elderly, outdoor workers, and people with related health issues are most vulnerable to these effects. To illustrate the implications for affected communities, one study in Massachusetts found that for every 10 ug/m3 increase in acute or short-term PM2.5 exposure, there was a nearly 3 percent increase in pollution-related mortality.
Particle pollution on its own is harmful to our health, but research has also linked air pollution to COVID-19 deaths. An oft-cited study from Harvard University found that a 1 ug/m3 increase in PM2.5 is associated with an 8 percent increase in the COVID-19 death rate, showing that even a marginal increase in particle pollution can significantly impact the outcomes of this pandemic. Similarly, a recent study by the State University of New York at Syracuse and ProPublica found that in Louisiana and New York, an increase in the respiratory hazard index (a combined score from EPA’s 2014 National Air Toxics Assessment) in rural counties was associated with an increase in COVID-19 death rates.
Furthermore, evacuations to emergency shelters may make it more difficult for people to socially distance safely or to access disinfectants and other necessary supplies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is even weighing in, reminding people that cloth masks used to limit the spread of COVID-19 will not shield against wildfire smoke.
Unfortunately, these dual disasters may already be harming Californians. In his briefing last Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom noted that while the state has made strides in decreasing the number of COVID-19 cases, early data shows that progress has slowed.
This historic wildfire season is a stark reminder that during the many preventable tragedies of 2020, climate change and its effects continue to intensify unabated. Meanwhile, Trump’s EPA carries on cherry-picking public health research and ignoring scientific best practices to justify regulatory rollbacks that endanger the environment and our health. When California’s natural resources secretary asked Trump to recognize the impacts of climate change and wildfires on our forests, the president flatly ignored his plea, saying, “It’ll start getting cooler, you just watch.”
When the Trump era finally comes to a close, the western United States – and the rest of the country – will look to the next administration and Congress to not only take climate change seriously, but to implement effective, comprehensive policies and programs to combat it and to prevent record-breaking wildfire seasons from becoming the "new normal."
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Darya Minovi | October 5, 2020
Amidst the president and First Lady testing positive for COVID-19, an embarrassing spectacle of a presidential "debate," and a pandemic that has now claimed more than 200,000 lives in the United States and 1 million worldwide, the West Coast wildfires have lost the attention of the national news cycle. But California and nearby states are still very much ablaze.
James Goodwin | October 1, 2020
In a previous post, I discussed the essentially undemocratic ways that conservatives have come to the brink of a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court and examined one significant implication for regulatory policy: the likely effect on the Court's view on Chevron deference. In this second post, I explore several other ways the Court could undermine the essential democratic character of the regulatory system.
James Goodwin | September 30, 2020
Last week, Matthew Yglesias published an important piece at Vox explaining the many ways conservatives have succeeded in exploiting fundamentally undemocratic features of our constitutional structure of government to advance their policy agenda. This strategy will have reached its grotesque culmination if they manage to seat Judge Amy Coney Barrett on the U.S. Supreme Court. He’s rightfully angry about the situation -- as should we all be -- but the story he tells, thorough and infuriating as it is, misses an important point: It could actually get much worse.
Michele Janin | September 28, 2020
As many of our allies and supporters know, CPR is now in the midst of a nationwide search for our next executive director. We're looking for a dynamic leader prepared to guide our nearly 20-year-old organization into its next stage of growth and impact.
Robert Verchick | September 25, 2020
For the Member Scholars and staff of the Center for Progressive Reform, Justice Ginsburg's passing is a moment for reflection, a time to celebrate her achievements, mourn what has been lost, and gird for what is to come. Because her death has triggered such an outpouring of emotion, we asked the CPR family to offer reflections on her life and legacy and have gathered them on our website. I encourage you to take a few moments to read them.
David Flores | September 25, 2020
On September 24, CPR and Waterkeeper Alliance convened the first in a series of webinars on climate-driven pollution and chemical disaster. The toxic floodwaters phenomenon only exists because of a set of intersecting policy failures, and it will take a bold and sophisticated community of activists to achieve intersecting reforms that prevent the harm of climate-driven pollution. Panelists Jamie Brunkow, Jordan Macha, and Victor Flatt are but a few within that community of climate and environmental advocates and scholars.
James Goodwin | September 24, 2020
An underappreciated side effect of the modern conservative movement now epitomized by Trumpism is its dogged pursuit of any legal argument to support “the cause,” no matter how ridiculous or specious. Long-settled questions like nondelegation and the constitutionality of independent regulatory agencies are suddenly, if bizarrely, up for grabs again. Add to this list a new line of argument – now germinating like a mushroom spore in horse manure – that posits that citizen suit provisions, such as those included in the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, are unconstitutional infringements upon the so-called unitary executive.
Daniel Farber | September 22, 2020
With Sen. Mitt Romney's announcement that he would support consideration of a nominee before the election, it now seems virtually certain that President Trump will be able to appoint a sixth conservative justice. How will that affect future climate policy? Here is a preliminary threat assessment.
Rebecca Bratspies | September 21, 2020
Recently, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler spoke to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the EPA's founding. He used the opportunity to reiterate the agency's commitment to its “straightforward” mission to “protect human health and the environment.” He also emphasized that the agency’s mission meant “ensuring that all Americans – regardless of their zip code – have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and clean land to live, work, and play upon.” Yet just last week, EPA postponed an internal speaker series on environmental justice. The reason for this postponement: the appalling suggestion, as per a recent White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo, that recognizing racial disparities in environmental protection is somehow "un-American."