The Biden administration has finalized a new national limit for soot, the tiny air pollution particles from tailpipes, smokestacks and wildfires, saying that stricter air quality standards could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year.
The rules revealed on Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would set maximum levels of soot, otherwise known as fine particulate matter air pollution, or PM2.5, at nine micrograms per cubic meter of air—down from 12 micrograms set over a decade ago under the Obama administration.
The EPA administrator, Michael Regan, said the new standards for soot pollution would help prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths and 290,000 lost workdays, saving the country as much as $46 billion in net health benefits in 2032….
