According to the American Lung Association, air pollution remains a major threat to the health of many Americans, but stricter emissions regulations could help.
The organization’s 25th annual “State of the Air” report found that 131 million people – 39% of the US population – live in areas with unhealthy air pollution. And the spike in deadly air pollution is the most severe on record in reporting history. That’s based on air quality assessment data from 2020-2022 (the most recently available) and takes into account EPA’s new particulate pollution rules finalized in February 2024.
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The report also found that people of color are disproportionately exposed to air pollution. People of color in the United States are 2.3 times more likely than white people to live in communities that score low on all three of the report’s air pollution measures—short-term particle pollution, long-term particles and ozone.
The American Lung Association acknowledges recent regulatory efforts, including stricter EPA emissions regulations for passenger cars and commercial trucks, as a way to “help clean up particle pollution and tackle climate change.” But the organization is now pushing for tighter national limits on ozone pollution.
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Meanwhile, EPA tailpipe regulations for model years 2027-2032 are much stricter for key pollutants, per vehicle, but they do not require the use of electric vehicles. ONE Decision of the Ministry of Energy However, delaying a key element in how vehicle emissions are calculated on a fleet basis could weaken those rules in the short term, leading to more hybrid vehicles being able to pollute more than it pays for if not plugged in regularly.
However, electric vehicles are not a silver bullet. Research from 2021 looking at the Los Angeles area shows that Electric vehicles will not solve it completely pollution problem of that urban area. Power plant emissions also remain a problem. Electricity generated from fossil fuels still affects carbon emissions of an electric vehicle.
