The EPA is changing how it considers the costs and benefits of air pollution rules

"The EPA writes in its regulatory impact analysis for the new rule that, for now, the agency will not consider the dollar value of health benefits from its regulations on fine particles and ozone because there is too much uncertainty in estimates of those economic impacts. EPA press secretary Brigit Hirsch clarified that the agency is still considering health benefits. But it will not assign a dollar amount to those benefits until further notice, as it reconsiders the way it assesses those numbers."

""I'm worried about what this could mean for health," says Mary Rice, a pulmonologist and air pollution expert at Harvard University and the director of Harvard's Center for Climate Health and the Global Environment. "Especially for people with chronic respiratory illnesses like asthma and COPD, for kids whose lungs are still developing, and for older people, who are especially susceptible to the harmful effects of air pollution on the heart, lungs and the brain.""

The EPA will stop monetizing health benefits from fine particles (PM2.5) and ozone due to perceived uncertainty in economic estimates. The change is included in a new rule that weakens emissions limits on fossil-fuel-burning power plant turbines. The agency states it still considers health benefits but will not assign dollar amounts until it revises its assessment methods. Health experts warn that removing monetary valuations could enable rollbacks of air pollution protections, raise pollution levels, and increase risks of respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological harm. Children, older adults, and people with chronic respiratory illnesses face heightened vulnerability to increased pollution.

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