EPA Cooks The Books On Industrial Pollution Costs - CleanTechnica

The article from CleanTechnica criticizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the current administration for changing how it calculates the economic costs of industrial pollution. Specifically, the EPA will no longer assign a monetary value to the health impacts of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone pollution on human beings. Instead, the agency will focus solely on the economic costs that pollution regulations impose on corporations. This shift is seen as prioritizing corporate interests over public health, effectively weakening environmental protections by softening regulations deemed too burdensome for polluters. Fine particulates, which are tiny particles produced by burning fossil fuels, and ozone, a smog-forming gas, are linked to serious health problems including cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, asthma, cognitive decline, and premature death. Vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, low-income communities, and people of color are disproportionately affected. Research cited in the article highlights that fossil fuel-related air pollution causes approximately 8.7 million deaths