Climate Politics
EPA Will No Longer Consider Value of Human Health Benefits in Setting Air Pollution Rules
The agency is abandoning a longstanding policy to calculate the monetary savings in avoided deaths and disease from cutting certain pollutants.
Emissions in Louisiana. The EPA said it is still considering the impacts of PM2.5 and ozone on human health.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/BloombergThe Environmental Protection Agency will no longer calculate the monetary value of saving human lives, among other health impacts, when setting new clean air rules.
The agency quietly debuted this updated approach to weighing the costs and benefits of two air pollutants — small particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller, called PM 2.5, and ozone — in a preliminary version of a new final rule for power plant emissions published late last week on the agency’s website.