By: Sam Schmitz, DC Events Coordinator, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: February 22, 2023
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0072
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Samantha Schmitz, and I live in Washington, DC. I am the DC Events Coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force, and I urge the EPA to fulfill their promise of furthering environmental justice by setting stronger standards for particle pollution. The EPA must set a more protective standard for particle pollution of 8 micrograms per cubic meter for the annual standard and 25 micrograms per cubic meter for the daily standard. This is just a first step to protecting public health and frontline communities.
Particle pollution is a personal issue to me as I have struggled with severe asthma throughout my entire life. I’ve had asthma attacks that have ended in hospitalizations that have greatly affected not just me but my entire family. I remember how upset my parents got when I went to the emergency room and even just at regular doctor’s visits as they watched their small child gasp for air and struggle to breathe on an ongoing basis. Particle pollution has been proven to exacerbate asthma as well as other respiratory problems meaning that this rule directly affects myself and the 25 million other Americans who also have asthma.
If the EPA doesn’t take this opportunity to strengthen the soot standards, it will also cost millions of kids and families extra emergency room visits, hospital bills, and even lives. Studies have shown that by tightening the soot standard, the EPA could prevent 46,000 emergency department visits for pediatric asthma each year. The most protective particle pollution standards would also decrease days spent in the hospital by 129,000, which would save the US over $336 million per year. Particle pollution standards also matter tremendously because they will mean life or death for far too many people in the US. In fact, setting an annual standard of 8 could save up to 16,000 lives every year, according to a 2022 report by Industrial Economics, commissioned by EDF.
It is also crucial to note that aside from just the annual soot standard, the daily soot standard matters tremendously as well. Both the long-term and short-term exposure to particle pollution impact our health especially in the context of asthma. In fact, spikes in daily soot pollution can result in acute health impacts like asthma attacks and hospitalizations due to respiratory ailments during or soon after a day of poor air quality.
Furthermore, both the annual and daily soot standards have dire environmental justice implications as the burden of this pollution as well as its health impacts are felt disproportionately by low-wealth communities and communities of color. People of color are 61% more likely than white people to live in a county with unhealthy air quality. And this disproportionate concentration of dirty air is compounded by the fact that in the US, people of color are six times more likely to visit the emergency room for air pollution-triggered childhood asthma than white people. This is not to mention the additional healthcare barriers and medical racism faced by communities of color.
Given these vast disparities, it is clear that the current proposed EPA soot standards fall far short of the Biden administration’s commitment to advancing environmental justice. The EPA must take action to save lives and set a more protective standard for soot of 8 micrograms per cubic meter for the annual standard and 25 micrograms per cubic meter for the daily standard. Please protect all communities by finalizing this standard as soon as possible. Thank you for your time.