"The pandemic has laid bare entrenched inequality in the United States and those most vulnerable to Covid-19 are often those most at risk from pollution and climate change." (Photo: Kris Krug/flickr/cc)
Lighter Coal Regulations May Mean More Covid-19 Deaths
Addressing emission standards, pollution, and environmental protections are necessities now.
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency declined to put in place stricter regulations on coal. This is despite the evolving evidence that air pollution is correlated with worse Covid-19 outcomes.
Ecological studies have shown that even a small increase in exposure to particulate matter of 1 ug/m3 (PM2.5) in the air leads to an 8% increase in Covid-related mortality. A study out of Yale yields similar findings that improved air quality during the quarantine period in China avoided a total of 8,911 NO2-related deaths, 65% of which were from cardiovascular diseases (hypertensive disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema and bronchitis).
The urgency of improving public health could not be more obvious at the present moment where Covid-related deaths near a quarter million at the writing of this article. Yet the present administration has engaged nature in battle with a series of ill-advised policies targeting environmental protections from siding with fossil fuel industry to pulling out of the Paris agreement.
In April 2020, the Trump administration rolled back regulations on automobile emissions even though their own analysis Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule, issued by the EPA and the Department of Transportation, suggested there would be an increase in premature deaths between 444 and 1,000. In 2018, the White House weakened rules on carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, a move which the EPA estimated (pdf) would cause an additional 1,400 premature deaths annually.
The administration is rolling back more than 100 environmental rules and regulations over four years, 27 of which involve air pollution and emissions. While the courts have overturned a handful of these, the assault on protections is left in place for the many with 84 rollbacks already completed (pdf).
The pandemic has laid bare entrenched inequality in the United States and those most vulnerable to Covid-19 are often those most at risk from pollution and climate change. Studies before the pandemic have shown the effect of pollution on pre-existing lung conditions. Communities already disenfranchised are bearing a disproportionate burden of the disease from exposure, comorbidities, and often from working as essential employees. Poor neighborhoods and communities of color are frequently exposed to higher levels of air pollution than more affluent communities.
Increasingly, people are voicing their concern. According to Associated Press exit polls from this year's election, 70% of Americans are concerned about the effects of the climate crisis.
Our hospitals are at capacity. Covid-19 is a public health emergency immediately and climate change is arguably the most consequential public health crisis of all time. Addressing emission standards, pollution, and environmental protections are not abstract chess moves that may or may not help at some point in the distant future. They are necessities now.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just four days to go in our Spring Campaign, we are not even halfway to our goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency declined to put in place stricter regulations on coal. This is despite the evolving evidence that air pollution is correlated with worse Covid-19 outcomes.
Ecological studies have shown that even a small increase in exposure to particulate matter of 1 ug/m3 (PM2.5) in the air leads to an 8% increase in Covid-related mortality. A study out of Yale yields similar findings that improved air quality during the quarantine period in China avoided a total of 8,911 NO2-related deaths, 65% of which were from cardiovascular diseases (hypertensive disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema and bronchitis).
The urgency of improving public health could not be more obvious at the present moment where Covid-related deaths near a quarter million at the writing of this article. Yet the present administration has engaged nature in battle with a series of ill-advised policies targeting environmental protections from siding with fossil fuel industry to pulling out of the Paris agreement.
In April 2020, the Trump administration rolled back regulations on automobile emissions even though their own analysis Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule, issued by the EPA and the Department of Transportation, suggested there would be an increase in premature deaths between 444 and 1,000. In 2018, the White House weakened rules on carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, a move which the EPA estimated (pdf) would cause an additional 1,400 premature deaths annually.
The administration is rolling back more than 100 environmental rules and regulations over four years, 27 of which involve air pollution and emissions. While the courts have overturned a handful of these, the assault on protections is left in place for the many with 84 rollbacks already completed (pdf).
The pandemic has laid bare entrenched inequality in the United States and those most vulnerable to Covid-19 are often those most at risk from pollution and climate change. Studies before the pandemic have shown the effect of pollution on pre-existing lung conditions. Communities already disenfranchised are bearing a disproportionate burden of the disease from exposure, comorbidities, and often from working as essential employees. Poor neighborhoods and communities of color are frequently exposed to higher levels of air pollution than more affluent communities.
Increasingly, people are voicing their concern. According to Associated Press exit polls from this year's election, 70% of Americans are concerned about the effects of the climate crisis.
Our hospitals are at capacity. Covid-19 is a public health emergency immediately and climate change is arguably the most consequential public health crisis of all time. Addressing emission standards, pollution, and environmental protections are not abstract chess moves that may or may not help at some point in the distant future. They are necessities now.
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency declined to put in place stricter regulations on coal. This is despite the evolving evidence that air pollution is correlated with worse Covid-19 outcomes.
Ecological studies have shown that even a small increase in exposure to particulate matter of 1 ug/m3 (PM2.5) in the air leads to an 8% increase in Covid-related mortality. A study out of Yale yields similar findings that improved air quality during the quarantine period in China avoided a total of 8,911 NO2-related deaths, 65% of which were from cardiovascular diseases (hypertensive disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema and bronchitis).
The urgency of improving public health could not be more obvious at the present moment where Covid-related deaths near a quarter million at the writing of this article. Yet the present administration has engaged nature in battle with a series of ill-advised policies targeting environmental protections from siding with fossil fuel industry to pulling out of the Paris agreement.
In April 2020, the Trump administration rolled back regulations on automobile emissions even though their own analysis Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule, issued by the EPA and the Department of Transportation, suggested there would be an increase in premature deaths between 444 and 1,000. In 2018, the White House weakened rules on carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, a move which the EPA estimated (pdf) would cause an additional 1,400 premature deaths annually.
The administration is rolling back more than 100 environmental rules and regulations over four years, 27 of which involve air pollution and emissions. While the courts have overturned a handful of these, the assault on protections is left in place for the many with 84 rollbacks already completed (pdf).
The pandemic has laid bare entrenched inequality in the United States and those most vulnerable to Covid-19 are often those most at risk from pollution and climate change. Studies before the pandemic have shown the effect of pollution on pre-existing lung conditions. Communities already disenfranchised are bearing a disproportionate burden of the disease from exposure, comorbidities, and often from working as essential employees. Poor neighborhoods and communities of color are frequently exposed to higher levels of air pollution than more affluent communities.
Increasingly, people are voicing their concern. According to Associated Press exit polls from this year's election, 70% of Americans are concerned about the effects of the climate crisis.
Our hospitals are at capacity. Covid-19 is a public health emergency immediately and climate change is arguably the most consequential public health crisis of all time. Addressing emission standards, pollution, and environmental protections are not abstract chess moves that may or may not help at some point in the distant future. They are necessities now.