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Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter

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Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filings
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Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed 2 comments on this docket between Jun 30, 2020 and Apr 3, 2023. 245 other organizations filed here. The comment window closed 1218d ago.

What Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed (2)

Apr 3, 2023· Mass Comment Campaign sponsored by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). (web)· EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0072-2256

Dear EPA Administrator Regan, Please accept these 32,090 public comments from members and online activists of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) urging you to strengthen your proposed limits on deadly soot air pollution to protect our health, defend our communities, and save more lives. Specifically, please adopt safer annual and 24-hour health standards to help reduce longstanding health disparities harming communities of color and expand air quality monitoring to better tally the true costs of soot pollution nationwide. Soot pollution threatens human health. Over 63 million Americans experience unhealthy spikes in daily levels of soot pollution. Health burdens of soot are disproportionately borne by communities of color living near heavily polluting facilities and high-traffic roadways. Now, more than ever, it is important for you to act. The previous Trump administration chose to leave outdated soot limits in place, putting millions of Americans at risk of exposure to deadly air pollution. If the current soot limits aren't strengthened enough, Americans will suffer from additional health harms, including infant mortality, cardiovascular disease, asthma, diabetes, cognitive impairments, and premature death. Heatwaves also exacerbate the impacts of soot pollution – in one recent California study, the risk of death increased up to 21% on days with both extreme heat and air pollution. Stricter proposed soot limits from EPA would be a much-needed step in the right direction. Please strengthen your proposal and help protect millions of Americans, including vulnerable populations like children, the elderly, and people with asthma and other respiratory and heart conditions, from the dangers of soot pollution. Thank you.

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Jun 30, 2020· Mass Comment Campaign sponsored by Natural Resources Defense Council. (web)· EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0072-0742

Dear Administrator Wheeler and EPA officials: Please kindly accept these 150 public comments from online members and activists of the Natural Resources Defense Council requesting to strengthen critical safeguards protecting us from dangerous particulate air pollution. Despite President Trump's claim that the U.S. has the "cleanest air" in the world, the truth is that many people in this country are still breathing in unhealthy levels of air pollution, day after day. Yet, instead of stepping up to protect public health during this historic crisis, President Trump and EPA Administrator Wheeler have waged an all-out assault on clean air protections. With their latest act being their refusal to strengthen soot air pollution standards, against the advice of EPA's own scientists. Failing to strengthen these air standards will cause numerous economic and health risks across the country including up to 12,500 more premature deaths per year. And in the United States, disparities in air pollution exposures disproportionately burden low-income communities and communities of color, driving major health disparities. A new analysis from NRDC scientists highlights the fact that millions of people live in U.S. counties with both high concentrations of polluting facilities and high death rates from COVID-19. And a preliminary study from Harvard researchers, still undergoing peer-review, has identified significantly higher COVID-19 death rates in U.S. counties with even slightly elevated levels of soot air pollution. We are in the midst of a global pandemic, with damage to human health worsened in-part by air pollution. The Trump administration's assault on our nation's clean air protections is unconscionable, especially now. Instead of allowing harmful levels of pollution to persist across the country, EPA should do its job, follow the science, and propose tighter limits on soot air pollution. Thank you.

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Abstract

Based on EPA’s reconsideration of the air quality criteria and the NAAQS for particulate matter (PM), the EPA proposes to revise the primary annual PM2.5 standard by lowering the level. The Agency proposes to retain the current primary 24-hour PM2.5 standard and the primary 24-hour PM10 standard. The Agency also proposes not to change the secondary 24-hour PM2.5 standard, secondary annual PM2.5 standard, and secondary 24-hour PM10 standard at this time. The EPA also proposes revisions to other key aspects related to the PM NAAQS, including revisions to the Air Quality Index and monitoring requirements for PM NAAQS.

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Co-filers (245)

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Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter (EPA) — Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) | OpenPolis