Capito Leads Colleagues in Urging EPA to Rescind Unattainable Air Pollution Standard | U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

U.S. Senators Urge EPA to Rescind Proposed Air Quality Standard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, led 22 other senators, including every Republican on the EPW Committee, in urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to rescind its proposed particulate matter (PM_2.5) national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS).

Sustainable Development Goals

1. Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being
2. Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
3. Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
4. Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
5. Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
6. Goal 13: Climate Action
7. Goal 15: Life on Land

Letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan

• The EPA’s proposal fails to consider several important factors that will make implementation of a lower annual standard extremely difficult, or in some cases impossible, to no measurable benefits to public health, the environment, or the economy.
• The EPA should not finalize a discretionary reconsideration of a PM_2.5 NAAQS that is unattainable and will likely lack an accompanying, detailed implementation plan.

List of Cosigners

• U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and Todd Young (R-Ind.).

Read the full letter here or further below.

Background

In June 2023, Ranking Member Capito led introduction of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards Implementation Act of 2023, which would improve the processes both for EPA to revise current NAAQS and for states to implement the standards. Under the Clean Air Act’s NAAQS program, the EPA sets standards for six criteria pollutants, including ground-level ozone and particulate matter. Earlier this year, the EPA took a discretionary action to propose making the NAAQS for particulate matter (PM_2.5) more stringent. Historically, the EPA has consistently missed statutory deadlines for both reviewing standards and for providing implementation guidance to states. Capito’s legislation would address these issues and set a more reasonable and attainable schedule for EPA actions.

Letter

Dear Administrator Regan:

On December 18, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completed its comprehensive review and published a final decision to retain the Obama Administration’s 2013 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM). Thirty-three days later, the Biden Administration issued an executive order directing the EPA to undertake a reconsideration of that decision. On January 27, 2023, the EPA published a discretionary proposal to revise the primary annual fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standard by lowering the level from 12 µg/m3 to between 9-10 µg/m3, an up to 25-percent reduction. Additionally, the EPA sought comment on an alternative standard as low as 8 µg/m3 – as much as 33 percent lower than the current standard.

According to the World Health Organization our nation enjoys some of the cleanest air in the world. The EPA’s own figures report that direct emissions of PM2.5 are down 40 percent from 1990 levels and annual ambient PM2.5 concentrations have decreased 43 percent between 2000 and 2019. Considering this progress in improving our air quality and the limited percentage of PM emissions from stationary point sources subject to the relevant regulation, the EPA should heed the advice of experts that it is neither necessary nor advisable to revise the primary annual PM2.5 standard and rescind the proposed reconsideration.

Establishing a lower NAAQS does not directly limit emissions. Rather, it establishes a level of ambient pollution that the Administrator determines is “requisite to protect the public health” with “an adequate margin of safety” and it falls to the states to implement procedures and pollution controls to attain and maintain the standards.

However, as the PM2.5 standard is approaching natural background levels, there are fewer sources available to regulate in order to achieve compliance. According to the Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies, wildfires and miscellaneous sources accounted for over 70 percent of domestic PM2.5 emissions in 2022. The EPA’s Policy Assessment for the PM NAAQS reconsideration estimated that only 16 percent of PM2.5 emissions come from power plants and industrial sources, while the vast majority of the emissions are from non-point sources, such as wildfires, construction, road dust, and international transport.

Many of these non-point sources are exceedingly onerous or impossible to control, or like wildfires, are beyond the scope of the Clean Air Act’s regulatory authorities. In light of this, sharply lowering the current PM2.5 annual standard would increase nonattainment levels across the country. This would increase permitting and regulatory burden on manufacturers, energy producers and several other key industries to our economy without a feasible path to attainment given the high costs and diminishing returns of additional control technologies.

This would result in Americans inheriting all of the negative consequences of nonattainment: offshoring of our domestic manufacturing, job loss, electric reliability concerns, higher prices, reliance on China, energy insecurity, and slow economic growth. At the same time, it would produce little to no measurable public health or environmental benefits. This proposal, particularly with its confounding inclusion of a request for

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Analysis

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
• SDG 13: Climate Action
• SDG 15: Life on Land

The issues highlighted in the article are related to air quality standards, public health, environmental impact, and economic growth. These issues align with multiple SDGs, including SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 15 (Life on Land).

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• Target 3.9: By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water, and soil pollution and contamination.
• Target 7.2: By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.
• Target 8.4: Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavor to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation.
• Target 9.4: By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes.
• Target 11.6: By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management.
• Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
• Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains, and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements.

Based on the issues discussed in the article, specific targets under the mentioned SDGs can be identified. These targets include reducing deaths and illnesses from air pollution (Target 3.9), increasing the share of renewable energy (Target 7.2), improving resource efficiency and decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation (Target 8.4), upgrading infrastructure and adopting clean technologies (Target 9.4), reducing environmental impact of cities (Target 11.6), strengthening resilience to climate-related hazards (Target 13.1), and ensuring conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems (Target 15.1).

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Indicator: Reduction in deaths and illnesses related to particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution.
• Indicator: Increase in the share of renewable energy in the energy mix.
• Indicator: Improvement in resource-use efficiency and reduction in environmental degradation.
• Indicator: Adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes.
• Indicator: Improvement in air quality and waste management in cities.
• Indicator: Enhancement of resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards.
• Indicator: Conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems.

The article implies indicators that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets. These indicators include the reduction in deaths and illnesses related to particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution, the increase in the share of renewable energy, the improvement in resource-use efficiency and reduction in environmental degradation, the adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes, the improvement in air quality and waste management in cities, the enhancement of resilience to climate-related hazards, and the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of ecosystems.

4. Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators