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Motion of the Council of Allegheny County urging the United States Environmental Protection Agency to revise its standard for annual average fine particulate matter exposure from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to 9-10 micrograms per cubic meter.
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WHEREAS, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgates regulations governing national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS); and
WHEREAS, part of the NAAQS standards govern standards for individuals’ exposure to fine particulate matter, having a diameter of less than or equal to 2.5 microns (also known as PM 2.5); and
WHEREAS, the current NAAQS standard for annual PM 2.5 exposure of 12 micrograms per cubic meter was established in 2012, and was based on research that was largely concluded in 2010 (see Samet JM, Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. Letter to Hon. Lisa P. Jackson, administrator, Environmental Protection Agency, re: CASAC review of Policy assessment for the review of the PM NAAQS - second external review draft (June 2010): EPA-CASAC-10-015. Washington, DC: September 10, 2010); and
WHEREAS, as of 2010, available epidemiologic evidence, supported by toxicologic evidence and a risk assessment conducted by EPA staff, indicated that annual exposure to PM2.5 caused premature death at ambient concentrations as low as 11 micrograms per cubic meter per year (see, e.g., Policy assessment for the review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter: EPA-452/R-20-002. Research Triangle Park, NC: Environmental Protection Agency, January 2020); and
WHEREAS, in October of 2019, the EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee Particulate Matter (PM) Review Panel concluded “that the current PM2.5 standards are insufficient to protect public health, on the basis of a review of the scientific evidence from epidemiologic studies, toxicologic studies in animals, and controlled human exposure studies; this evidence is consistent within each discipline and coher...
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