Trump’s EPA plans to ignore the health effects of air pollution

Since Ronald Reagan was president, the EPA has placed a value on human life. If you think about it, it’s a bit crude, but the result has been to provide some cost-benefit analyzes of pollution controls. Reducing pollution can extend people’s lives, so if the health benefits of reducing pollution outweigh its costs, then there is an economic case in favor of such reductions.

Since then, every administration has assigned some value to human life when determining how to regulate air pollution.

The Trump administration plans to throw decades of accepted practices out the window, according to A a report In the New York Times. If the EPA follows through with its plans, it will no longer consider the value of human health when regulating ozone and fine particulate pollution.

The dangers of air pollution have been known for decades, which is one of the reasons the EPA was founded under President Richard Nixon in the first place.

Ozone and fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5, have long been linked to cardiovascular diseases such as Asthma, heart disease and emphysema.

Ozone in the atmosphere protects us from ultraviolet radiation. But when it forms close to the ground, as it does when nitrogen oxides are emitted by everything from cars to power plants, it can create smog. On particularly smog-filled days, it can be deadly for vulnerable populations.

PM2.5 may be even more harmful. Recent research has linked PM2.5 to a wide range of diseases, including… Parkinson’s disease, Kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Dementiaand Type 2 diabetes. Even the youngest infants are not spared, as maternal exposure to PM2.5 is linked Low birth weight. Worldwide, up to 10 million people They die every year due to fine particulate pollution. Maha indeed.

The policy change comes at a time when data centers increasingly rely on dirtier electricity sources. For example, Elon Musk’s XAI was used Dozens of unlicensed natural gas turbines To operate its Colossus data center near Memphis, Tennessee, an area that the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America said is already the “asthma capital” due to pollution from transportation and industry.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce welcomes the Trump administration’s policy change. “We appreciate this administration’s efforts to rebalance regulations through a common-sense approach,” Marty Durbin, president of the chamber’s Global Energy Institute, told the New York Times. “We look forward to considering the proposal from the EPA.”