Behind the Smoke: It’s What You Don’t See That Kills

Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Agency/Executive Branch, Federal Regulation, Opinions, Policy, White House

September 23, 2020

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by Doug Durante and Larry Pearce (Morning Consult) … But a bigger problem has existed for decades in the air we don’t see — air polluted with toxic ultra-fine particles, or UFPs.

For more than 30 years, a small group of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulators have hidden a far more lethal pollutant that most Americans have no choice but to breathe in every day. Scientists call them UFPs. Unlike the smoke from forest fires, they are invisible to the human eye — which makes them all too easy to sweep under the rug. But they can be lethal and experts tell us they are a primary causes of pre-term births, childhood asthma, cardiovascular disease and a wide range of cancers.

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Just like we never should have used poisonous lead in gasoline so many decades ago. While lead’s use in gasoline was finally banned by Congress in the 1990 Clean Air Act — new health threats emerged. In the same law, 69 members of the U.S. Senate voted to require EPA to ensure that another oil-derived octane booster — benzene-based molecules known as BTEX or aromatics which when burned become toxic — were reduced to the “greatest achievable degree…as technologies presented themselves.” Despite the oil industry’s best efforts, Congress reiterated that mandate in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Yet, 30 years later, this mandate continues to be ignored. Today, 25 percent of the 140 billion gallons of gasoline consumed in the United States contains carcinogenic BTEX, even though a less costly octane booster is widely available. There is even evidence suggesting that the EPA has colluded with oil interests to defy congressional intent.

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Last year, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and former Sen. Timothy Wirth (D-Colo.) joined together to shine light on the issue and urge environmental advocates to take another look at biofuels — and more specifically higher blends of ethanol. Even Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem of the Governor’s Biofuels Coalition wrote to the president requesting that he direct the EPA to enforce the toxics controls required in Section 202 of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

It has been made crystal clear that we cannot wait any longer to act. The science is irrefutable. The solution is commercially available, less costly than the cause of the problem and would benefit all Americans. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

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With a stroke of his pen, he could direct the EPA to follow the law. Without waiting for Congress, our next president could do the same. READ MORE

Midlands Voices: Giving a boost to ethanol means giving a boost to cleaner air (Omaha World Herald)

Ethanol can help Iowa ‘weather the storm’ and tackle thorny pollution problems for the country (Des Moines Register)

PERDUE SAYS USDA HAS AND WILL DEFEND ETHANOL (Brownfield Ag News)

Opinion | Here’s one way to clean up the air in Michigan (Bridge Michigan)

Vehicle emission declines decreased deaths, study finds (Associated Press/Harvard University)

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