(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Biden Administration Moves to Tighten Limits on Deadly Air Pollution [1]

['Coral Davenport']

Date: 2023-01-06

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Friday proposed to tighten limits on fine particulate matter, a deadly air pollutant that includes soot.

It would be the first time in more than a decade that the federal government cracks down on a contaminant responsible for thousands of premature deaths every year.

Fine particulate matter comes from smokestacks, construction, trucks, power plants and other industrial activity. It has a diameter of no more than 2.5 micrometers, one-thirtieth the width of a human hair, and can become embedded in the lungs. It is linked to heart attacks, stroke and respiratory ailments.

The draft rule by the Environmental Protection Agency would tighten the current limit, which has been in place since 2012, by as much as 25 percent. The administration estimates that it could prevent as many as 4,200 premature deaths annually, as well as 270,000 missed workdays per year, and result in up to $43 billion in net health and economic benefits by 2032.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/climate/epa-soot-pollution-biden.html

Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.