This post was originally published on Legal Planet. Reprinted with permission.
The Biden administration is slowly grinding away at an important regulatory task: reconsidering the air quality standards for particulates and ozone. Setting those standards is an arduous and time-consuming process, requiring consideration of reams of technical data. For instance, a preliminary staff report on fine particulates (PM2.5) is over 600 pages long. When the process is done, the result will not only be better protection of public health. It will also be a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide and other global warming agents.
Quick legal background: The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set national ambient air quality standards or NAAQS (pronounced "knacks"). They are supposed to be set at a level that, "allowing an adequate margin of safety, are requisite to protect the public health." They're supposed to be revised every five years based on new science, though EPA has tended to fall beyond schedule. The Trump administration decided that the existing standards are just fine, but Biden directed EPA to reconsider.
It seems pretty clear that the current PM2.5 standard is too high. Averaged over a year, the current standard limits emissions to 12.0 μg/m3. Trump fired the panel of scientific experts who are supposed to advise EPA on that standard. After being fired, however, they published their views anyway in the New England Journal of Medicine: "We unequivocally and unanimously concluded that the current PM2.5 standards do not adequately protect public health. An annual standard between 10 μg per cubic meter and 8 μg per cubic meter would protect the general public and at-risk groups." The EPA staff report comes to similar conclusions (see p. 3-156). The Biden administration has also announced that it intends to reconsider standards for ozone pollution.
Revising the standards seems likely to prevent thousands of deaths per year, as well cut other health effects like children's asthma attacks. Revising the standards will also help address air pollution. The reason is that ozone-forming substances come largely from cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, and chemical plants. PM2.5 comes mostly from burning things, notably coal. Changing the standards will require states to tighten their controls on all these sources, making it more expensive to burn fossil fuels. And reducing the use of fossil fuels is crucial for addressing climate change.
Oddly, while many people have written about how climate policy will reduce harmful air pollutants, there isn't much about the converse: the climate co-benefits of air pollution reductions. I couldn't find even rough estimates of how much tightening these standards would impact climate change. Nevertheless, there's every reason to think this climate change "co-benefit" of tougher pollutions standards would be substantial.
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Daniel Farber | April 4, 2022
The Biden administration is slowly grinding away at an important regulatory task: reconsidering the air quality standards for particulates and ozone. Setting those standards is an arduous and time-consuming process, requiring consideration of reams of technical data. For instance, a preliminary staff report on fine particulates (PM2.5) is over 600 pages long. When the process is done, the result will not only be better protection of public health. It will also be a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide and other global warming agents.
Brian Gumm | March 31, 2022
A couple of weeks ago, I traveled back to my home state to accept an award on behalf of the Center for Progressive Reform. The first-ever De Prey Peace Awards, named for Sheboygan, Wisconsin, peace activist Ceil De Prey, honor individuals and organizations whose work, volunteerism, and advocacy contribute to peace, a stronger democracy, and a better, more inclusive world for future generations.
William Funk | March 30, 2022
On the day before President Biden’s inauguration, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopted the Securing Updated and Necessary Statutory Evaluations Timely rule, colloquially known as the SUNSET Rule, because it would sunset any regulation that had not been assessed and, where required, reviewed within a specific timetable. Everyone is now expecting HHS to rescind the SUNSET Rule in the near future, and the agency should indeed take this action.
James Goodwin | March 29, 2022
The regulatory system, contrary to the claims of its conservative critics, is an indispensable part of the broader civic infrastructure on which our democracy is built. Significantly, the ability to exercise voting rights -- the most visible and potent act of civic engagement -- necessitates a stronger and more inclusive regulatory system.
Ian Campbell | March 28, 2022
Women led the battle for industrial democracy — even before they won the vote. However, women’s contributions to and leadership of the organized labor movement, though lionized within the movement itself, have largely escaped public consciousness.
Marcha Chaudry | March 24, 2022
Women’s History Month isn’t just a time to recognize achievements made throughout the decades to advance women’s rights and demand equity. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate women making history today, the ones in our unwritten history books.
Daniel Farber | March 22, 2022
In describing cost-benefit analysis to students, I've often told them that the "cost" side of the equation is pretty simple. And it does seem simple: just get some engineers to figure out how industry can comply and run some spreadsheets of the costs. But this seemingly simple calculation turns out to be riddled with uncertainties, particularly when you're talking about regulating the energy industry. Those uncertainties need more attention in designing regulations.
Alexandra Klass, Hannah Wiseman | March 21, 2022
The U.S. system for regulating electricity divides responsibility among too many players, assigns too many overlapping or competing tasks, and creates too many distorted incentives, a group of law professors says. They propose reforms that would break down governance silos to ensure greater collaboration in the clean energy transition.
Catalina Gonzalez | March 16, 2022
State officials in California are leading an extensive multisector planning effort to develop the 2022 Scoping Plan, the third update to California’s climate mitigation strategy. The new plan will outline a pathway for statewide action toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and reaching net-zero emissions no later than 2045.