Senator Boxer:  Working for Clean Air   

Tuesday, February 7, 2006  

A recently proposed change in regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency will pose a health risk for many areas of California, including the Central, Coachella and Owens Valleys.  The change has to do with dust, also known as coarse particulate matter, and whether or not agricultural and mining dust should be regulated in rural areas.  Under the new regulation, the EPA would not even require monitoring of these pollutants in areas with less that 100,000 people.  This is the wrong direction to go in areas that have been working hard to clean up their air.

I believe that children and families in rural areas deserve the same protection from dust and other breathing hazards as people in urban areas.  Such particles can include toxic and heavy metals and can cause significant health effects.  In fact, EPA’s own panel of scientists has criticized the proposed standards, saying that they could lead to additional heart attacks, lung cancer and respiratory ailments.

In response to this proposed rule, I wrote to EPA Administrator Steven Johnson to protest EPA’s actions.  In my letter, I suggested to Administrator Johnson that EPA should “instead protect all Americans from the known health risks of this dangerous form of air pollution.”

We should not opt to be more or less protective of the health of our children and families based upon their zip code or the density of their housing.  I will continue to insist that rules that impact health be applied equally in our nation.

Sincerely,