Since Ronald Reagan was president, the Environmental Protection Agency has added value to human life. If you think about it too long, it can get a little wild, but the end result is to provide a cost-benefit analysis of pollution control measures. Reducing pollution can extend human lifespans, so if the health benefits of reducing pollution outweigh the costs, then there is an economic argument in favor of reducing it.
Since then, every administration has assigned some value to human life when deciding how to regulate air pollution.
The New York Times reports that the Trump administration plans to ignore decades of accepted practice. If the EPA carries out its plan, human health values will no longer be considered when regulating ozone and fine particulate matter pollution.
The dangers of air pollution have been known for decades and were one of the reasons the EPA was created under President Richard Nixon in the first place.
Ozone and fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5, have long been associated with cardiovascular diseases such as asthma, heart disease, and emphysema.
Ozone, which is present in high concentrations in the atmosphere, protects us from ultraviolet rays. But when nitrogen oxides form close to the ground, like when they are emitted by everything from cars to power plants, smog can form. Especially on smoggy days, it can be deadly for vulnerable populations.
PM2.5 can be even more harmful. Recent studies have linked PM2.5 to a wide range of illnesses, including Parkinson’s disease, kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and type 2 diabetes. Even the smallest infants are not spared, as maternal PM2.5 exposure is associated with low birth weight. Around the world, as many as 10 million people die each year from fine particulate matter pollution. Exactly Maha.
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The policy change comes as data centers increasingly rely on dirtier power sources. For example, Elon Musk’s xAI used dozens of unlicensed natural gas turbines to power its Colossus data center near Memphis, Tennessee. This is an area that the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America said is already an “asthma capital” due to pollution from transportation and industry.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the Trump administration’s policy changes. “We appreciate the current administration’s efforts to recalibrate regulations using a common sense approach, and we look forward to considering the proposal from EPA,” Marty Durbin, director of the chamber’s Global Energy Institute, told the New York Times.
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