skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

CA Groups Pressure Feds to Tighten Air-Quality Standards

play audio
Play

Monday, February 27, 2023   

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing new rules on soot in order to clean up the nation's air.

Advocates say while it is a step in the right direction, it does not go far enough. The current rules allow 12 micrograms per cubic meter. The EPA wants to take it down to nine or 10, but clean-air groups want it lowered to eight.

Monica Embrey, California energy campaign director for the Sierra Club, said a standard of eight micrograms would save 24,000 lives a year.

"Soot is a deadly mix of metals, chemicals and substances that are so small, they can be inhaled into our lungs and enter into our bloodstreams," Embrey pointed out. "Which can cause a host of different health issues, including respiratory diseases, cancers and death."

The fine particulate matter can trigger asthma comes from things like vehicle exhaust, heavy industry, oil and gas sites, wildfire smoke, and blowing dust. The Trump administration overrode scientific recommendations and left the standard unchanged. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said tighter standards would stifle manufacturing and hurt the economy. The agency is taking public comment through the end of March.

Patrick Drupp, director of climate policy for the Sierra Club, said the World Health Organization has called for an even lower standard, of five.

"We have the solutions to address it, we have scientific evidence to address it. We have all the moral imperative to address it," Drupp stressed. "This is something they really have to do to ensure that people actually are breathing clean air."

Tens of millions of Californians live in counties already exceeding the existing air-quality standard, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties in Southern California; Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties in the Central Valley; and Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties in the Bay Area.

Disclosure: The Sierra Club contributes to our fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, Energy Policy, Environment, and Environmental Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021