FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2026
CONTACT: Aaron Bharucha, Public Relations Associate
(509) 429-1699 and epn-press@environmentalprotectionnetwork.org
EPA Plans to Ignore Lives Saved When Rolling Back Air Pollution Limits
Washington D.C. – According to a New York Times story published today, EPA will stop counting the public health benefits of reducing deadly air pollutants, including the prevention of asthma attacks and premature deaths, when writing and repealing clean-air rules. Internal EPA documents reviewed by the Times show the agency will no longer assign any monetary value to the health benefits of reducing fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone, two of the most widespread and dangerous air pollutants in the United States.
If true, EPA’s reported decision to ignore prevented deaths is part of a pattern of ignoring or downplaying health effects in the rulemaking process, including in its rulemaking on effluent guidelines for coal-fired power plants and its recent Waters of the United States rulemaking.
Jeremy Symons, Senior Advisor at the Environmental Protection Network, made the following statement:
“EPA’s current leadership has abandoned EPA’s mission to protect human health and safety. Human lives don’t count. Childhood asthma doesn’t count. It is a shameful abdication of EPA’s responsibility to protect Americans from harm. Under this administration, the Environmental Protection Agency is now the Environmental Pollution Agency, helping polluters at the expense of human health.”
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