EPA Strengthens Standards for Soot Emissions
The Facts
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a new rule to set tougher standards for soot pollution on Wednesday to reduce overall emissions of "fine particle matter" from smokestacks, tailpipes, and other industrial outputs.
This comes as the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to review its air standard every five years to make sure it's up to date with present-day science, with the previous change to the air-quality standard taking place in 2012.
The Spin
Right narrative
This is a sad time for science and the American people. Pres. Biden is again deferring to the most extreme environmentalists in his administration and placing too much of the blame for air pollution on the US manufacturing industry. Production and job creation will be strangled by this new rule and investment will leave the US for other countries.
Left narrative
If anything, this rule doesn't go far enough to give the American people the maximum health benefit, but Biden is doing the best he can in the current political climate. This is a win for public health considering the known, and unknown, consequences associated with soot pollution. Industries have until 2032 to comply with the rule — the least it can do to reduce deaths and illnesses.
