Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) issued the following statement today in response to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s announcement that EPA will not complete a second draft of its study for the national particulate matter standard, or reconstitute the disbanded subpanel on particulate pollution, despite concerns raised by the Agency’s own independent scientific advisors:
“The Trump EPA has spent the last two years gutting the Agency’s scientific foundation and sidelining independent science advisors at the expense of our public health and environment. EPA’s latest decision to skip a key step in assessing the dangers of particulate pollution is dangerously irresponsible and rejects the recommendations of the Agency’s own advisors. This latest attack on science threatens the integrity of EPA’s air program and demonstrates once again that EPA is failing to uphold its responsibility to ensure clean air for all Americans."
Every week, including this week, more research shows that tens of thousands of Americans are dying prematurely from worsening air pollution.
