EPA Is Reconsidering The PM2.5 NAAQS. The Sooner, The Better.

EPA announced yesterday that it will "reconsider" the Trump EPA's decision not to change the PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard. I've blogged numerous times about the growing body of evidence that exposure to concentrations of PM2.5 below the current NAAQS causes significant additional mortality and morbidity.  The evidence is clear.

I certainly agree that climate change is an existential threat and that's where our emphasis needs to be.  At the same time, it's human nature to focus on the here and now.  Here and now, people are dying or becoming ill because of exposure to PM2.5.  Many of them of children or elderly.  Many of them are in environmental justice communities.  Tightening the PM2.5 should be a priority for EPA.