• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Search

Indiana University Indiana University IU

Open Search
  • Who We Are
    • Leadership
    • Advisory Boards
    • Researchers
    • Staff
    • Mission and Vision
  • Who We Work With
    • Local Governments
      • ERI Toolkit
      • Hoosier Resilience Index
      • Webinars
      • Resilience Cohort
    • Educators
    • Residents
      • Hoosier Resilience Heroes
    • Researchers
    • Careers
  • Research
    • Wildlife Migration
    • Pests and Invasive Species
    • Climate and Water Systems
    • Forests and Green Infrastructure
    • Human Impacts and Attitudes
    • Communication, Education, and Outreach
    • ERI Data Resources
  • Tools & Resources
    • Environmental Resilience Institute Toolkit (ERIT)
    • Hoosier Resilience Index
    • Hoosier Life Survey Opinion Map
    • Renewable Energy Development
    • ERI Data Resources
    • Fact Sheets
    • ERI Explainer
    • Webinars
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Newsletters
  • Support Our Work
  • Contact
  • Donate

Environmental Resilience Institute
Part of the Prepared for Environmental Change Grand Challenge

  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Leadership
    • Advisory Boards
    • Researchers
    • Staff
    • Mission and Vision
  • Who We Work With
    • Local Governments
    • Educators
    • Residents
    • Researchers
    • Careers
  • Research
    • Wildlife Migration
    • Pests and Invasive Species
    • Climate and Water Systems
    • Forests and Green Infrastructure
    • Human Impacts and Attitudes
    • Communication, Education, and Outreach
    • ERI Data Resources
  • Tools & Resources
    • Environmental Resilience Institute Toolkit (ERIT)
    • Hoosier Resilience Index
    • Hoosier Life Survey Opinion Map
    • Renewable Energy Development
    • ERI Data Resources
    • Fact Sheets
    • ERI Explainer
    • Webinars
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Newsletters
  • Support Our Work
  • Search
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Home
  • News & Events
  • News
  • Archive
  • 2020
  • Cracking down on soot pollution could save thousands of lives—but the EPA won’t do it

Cracking down on soot pollution could save thousands of lives—but the EPA won’t do it

By: Popular Science

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Decorative - a headshot of Janet McCabe
Janet McCabe

The Trump Administration continued its final sprint to lock in weakened or outdated environmental rules this week with the decision to maintain an air quality standard that many scientists say fails to protect the public.

The decision re-establishes a limit defined in 2012 for fine particulate matter, better known as soot. Under the Clean Air Act, the federal government is required to regularly review the latest science to determine if its standards for pollutants are strong enough to protect public health and welfare. These National Ambient Air Quality Standards, or NAAQS, are used to evaluate air across the country.

During the latest review, though, researchers say that the Environmental Protection Agency ignored the overwhelming evidence that the standard must be strengthened, especially to protect groups most vulnerable to pollution. Laura Van Winkle, a toxicologist studying air pollution and lung disease at the University of California, Davis, says she was disappointed with the decision. “The data clearly shows that we have health effects at the current NAAQS,” she says. “The data clearly support that we need a more protective standard.”

The decision is also likely to be challenged in court, where it’s possible it will be deemed arbitrary and capricious because it ignored available evidence about health impacts, says Janet McCabe, director of the Environmental Resilience Institute at Indiana University and a former EPA air quality official under Barack Obama.

Read the full article

  • News
  • Events
  • Newsletters

Additional links and resources

  • ERI INTRANET
  • GRAND CHALLENGES
Donation button to Give Now to Environmental Resilience Institute
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Indiana University

Accessibility | Privacy Notice | Copyright © 2021 The Trustees of Indiana University

  • Who We Are
    • Leadership
    • Advisory Boards
    • Researchers
    • Staff
    • Mission and Vision
  • Who We Work With
    • Local Governments
      • ERI Toolkit
      • Hoosier Resilience Index
      • Webinars
      • Resilience Cohort
    • Educators
    • Residents
      • Hoosier Resilience Heroes
    • Researchers
    • Careers
  • Research
    • Wildlife Migration
    • Pests and Invasive Species
    • Climate and Water Systems
    • Forests and Green Infrastructure
    • Human Impacts and Attitudes
    • Communication, Education, and Outreach
    • ERI Data Resources
  • Tools & Resources
    • Environmental Resilience Institute Toolkit (ERIT)
    • Hoosier Resilience Index
    • Hoosier Life Survey Opinion Map
    • Renewable Energy Development
    • ERI Data Resources
    • Fact Sheets
    • ERI Explainer
    • Webinars
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Newsletters
  • Support Our Work
  • Contact
  • Donate