HOUSTON, TX – On November 25, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially moved to abandon its own efforts to strengthen protections against Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5) by asking the courts to officially eliminate the newly adopted and stronger national PM2.5 standard.​​ The new NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standard) would have reduced the maximum allowable level of PM2.5 in a community to 9 mg/m3, a move that, by EPA’s own estimates, would have prevented 4,500 premature deaths and saved $46 billion in health care costs every year. 

“The only reason the EPA would abandon its own efforts toward stronger protections against air pollution is to make money for those that pollute,” says Jennifer Hadayia, executive director of Air Alliance Houston (AAH). “This move does absolutely nothing to reduce the epidemic of pollution-related chronic conditions or premature deaths. It does not make anyone healthy again. Instead, it allows the states, including here in Texas, to ‘status quo’ their soot pollution reduction efforts in favor of industry profits.”

Though this move is the latest in a series of federal environmental policy rollbacks since the Trump Administration took over the EPA, it is the most unprecedented. The EPA has never before abandoned its own defense of a strengthened NAAQS. Moreover, the new NAAQS was adopted following EPA’s own rigorous science-backed review process that considered the latest data on PM-related health and environmental impacts as well as the impacts to industry. Before this change, the PM standard had not been updated for over a decade.

Reflecting on this action, Dr. Inyang Uwak, director of research and policy at AAH and a physician epidemiologist said, “In my professional opinion, PM2.5 is the most harmful air pollutant for health. The particles are so small that they can pass into the bloodstream and then into all bodily organs including the heart, brain, and placenta. Short and long-term exposure is linked time and time again to acute respiratory and cardiac events (heart attacks) as well as cancer, diseases of aging, and adverse neonatal and maternal health outcomes. Even the EPA acknowledges these health impacts.”

AAH and its partners have been working toward stronger protections from soot pollution for over a decade, too. In the Houston area, PM-emitting sources like concrete batch plants can operate next door to parks, churches, health care facilities, and schools. There are currently over 160 concrete batch plants in the greater Houston area.

“These facilities are concentrated in Houston’s communities of color, putting them at higher risk for PM exposure and related health issues. The EPA’s decision to abandon their own stronger PM protections could be mitigated if Texas had a stronger regulatory system,” says Leticia Gutierrez, AAH director of government affairs, “Unfortunately, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is a ‘reluctant regulator,’ that has to be forced by state law to ensure greater protections from concrete batch plants, even before this latest EPA move.”

According to the EPA’s own data, Black residents suffer a 300% higher mortality rate  from PM2.5-attributable air pollution than White residents, and Hispanic residents experience a 25% higher mortality rate than White residents. 

Despite these set-backs at the state and national levels, Houston area communities are pushing back on PM-polluters and winning. Two new permits for concrete facilities were recently voided due to permit application deficiencies following opposition from residents and local elected officials, and another is being contested in administrative court for the same reasons. 

Says Jennifer Hadayia, “The EPA had an unprecedented opportunity to save lives by issuing and defending a stronger PM standard aligned with the latest science and best practice. They have failed, but Houstonians won’t. We will continue to fight with and for our neighbors to protect our right to breathe clean air. We will continue to push back on new polluters and hold those who harm us accountable.”