WASHINGTON — In a step that officials said would save lives, the Obama administration Friday announced new air quality standards intended to reduce the amount of soot that can be released into the air.
Environmental groups and public health advocates welcomed the move by the Environmental Protection Agency, saying it would protect millions of Americans at risk for soot-related asthma attacks, lung cancer, heart disease and premature death.
But congressional Republicans and industry officials called the proposal overly strict and said it could hurt economic growth and cause job losses in areas where pollution levels are determined to be too high.
Perhaps wary of the rule’s political risk, the administration had sought to delay the new soot standards until after the November elections. But a federal judge ordered officials to act sooner after 11 states filed a lawsuit seeking a decision this year.
Gina McCarthy, the EPA’s top air official, said the new rule was based on a rigorous scientific review. All but six counties in the United States would meet the proposed standard by 2020 with no additional actions needed beyond compliance with existing and pending rules set by the EPA, she said.
Those counties are San Bernardino and Riverside counties in Calif.; Santa Cruz County, Ariz.; Wayne County, Mich.; Jefferson County, Ala., and Lincoln County, Mont. All six face “unique challenges” and will receive individual attention from the EPA, McCarthy said Friday in a conference call with reporters.
“We will work very hard to make sure by 2020 they can enjoy the same kind of clean air that the other 99 percent of U.S. counties will achieve, based on the federal rules” already in place or scheduled to take effect over the next few years, she said.
But industry groups said the administration’s assertion that so few counties would be affected by the new rule is based on the assumption that a dozen or more federal rules and standards achieve their pollution reduction goals.
“The EPA wants to wave its hands and say, ‘Don’t worry about it, it will all be taken care of by 2020,’” said Howard Feldman, director of regulatory and scientific affairs for the American Petroleum Institute, the top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry. “I’m worried about disinvestment by 2017” in counties that fail to meet new federal standards.
The new rule would set the maximum allowable standard for soot in a range of 12 to 13 micrograms per cubic meter of air. The current annual standard is 15.