American families will face increasing rates of environmental-related illnesses and premature deaths, including lung and cardiovascular diseases, due to the Trump administration\u2019s sweeping rollbacks of air quality regulations, health professionals warn.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n By Dana Drugmand<\/strong><\/p>\n American families will face increasing rates of environmental-related illnesses and premature deaths, including lung and cardiovascular diseases, due to the Trump administration\u2019s sweeping rollbacks of air quality regulations, health professionals warn.<\/p>\n The moves to slash roughly two dozen\u00a0environmental<\/a>\u00a0and public health protections weaken rules dealing with a range of\u00a0health<\/a>\u00a0threats, including mercury emissions from power plants and tailpipe pollution from vehicles.<\/p>\n U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator\u00a0Lee Zeldin<\/a>\u00a0announced March 12 that the\u00a0agency<\/a>\u00a0is labeling the biggest and greatest deregulatory push in U.S. history.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the US and more,\u201d Zeldin said in the announcement.<\/p>\n Industry trade groups applauded the EPA\u2019s actions. The\u00a0American Petroleum Institute<\/a>\u00a0said the Trump administration is \u201canswering the call\u201d for more \u201caffordable, reliable and secure American energy,\u201d while the\u00a0American Chemistry Council<\/a>\u00a0said EPA\u2019s plan to revisit soot standards will help \u201cfoster continued industry growth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Sicker and poorer\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Public health and environmental experts, however, said the Trump administration is ignoring the enormous health and economic benefits that clean air and climate protections provide.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Zeldin\u2019s deregulatory jihad succeeds, he will leave America a sicker and poorer place,\u201d\u00a0Joseph Goff<\/a>, former assistant administrator for the EPA\u2019s Office of Air and Radiation, said in a statement.<\/p>\n A September 2024\u00a0report from the Environmental Protection Network<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a group of former EPA staff \u2014 found that air pollution regulations issued during the Biden administration would avoid over 100 million asthma attacks and save over 200,000 lives through 2050 while delivering over $250 billion in health and environmental benefits annually.<\/p>\n New rules from Biden\u2019s EPA to reduce carbon emissions and other air pollutants from power plants were estimated to result in the avoidance of 1,200 premature deaths, 870 hospital and emergency room visits, 1,900 cases of asthma onset and 360,000 cases of asthma symptoms by 2035.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump administration\u2019s agenda seeks to\u00a0roll back environmental regulations<\/a>\u00a0that are proven to have saved countless lives and prevented many illnesses, disabilities and hospitalizations,\u201d said Ted Schettler, a physician and science director of the Science and Environmental Health Network.<\/p>\n \u201cThe predictable increased costs of illness and added suffering will be borne by individuals, families, and communities across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n The list of rules and standards on EPA\u2019s chopping block includes air quality standards for fine particulate matter (soot) that can lodge deep in the lungs and cause respiratory ailments, multiple national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants, mercury and air toxic standards and\u00a0wastewater regulations<\/a>\u00a0on coal-fired power plants, Clean Air Act regulations on the oil and gas industry, limits on greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector and from automobiles, a rule requiring highly hazardous industrial facilities to prevent and plan for chemical disasters, the social cost of carbon and the greenhouse gas reporting program and more.<\/p>\n \u2018Killing kids\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n During President Donald Trump\u2019s first term, the EPA pursued a similar agenda rolling back or attempting to reverse over 100 environmental regulations, said\u00a0Phil Landrigan<\/a>, a pediatrician and public health physician and director of the global public health program at Boston College.<\/p>\n An analysis he and colleagues conducted of the public health impacts of those actions found that they resulted in about 20,000 additional deaths, Landrigan said.<\/p>\n The most air pollution-related deaths during Trump\u2019s first term occurred in \u201cred\u201d states that voted for Trump, as these states tend to have weaker state programs for public health and environmental protection.<\/p>\n \u201cThe downstream consequences of these actions are\u00a0more pollution<\/a>, more disease, and more death,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to point out, for an administration that portrays itself as pro-life, a group within the population that will suffer most seriously from those impacts are pregnant women, their infants in the womb, and young kids. Something that is portrayed as freeing up industry actually ends up killing kids. That is the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n One action the first Trump administration did not undertake, but that the new administration is pursuing, is attempting to scrap EPA\u2019s 2009 endangerment finding for greenhouse gases. This finding underpins EPA\u2019s legal obligation to regulate climate pollution under the Clean Air Act.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been told the endangerment finding is considered the holy grail of the climate change religion,\u201d Zeldin said in a video message accompanying his announcement.<\/p>\n He said he intends to reconsider all rules that stem from that science-based finding, such as standards limiting tailpipe pollution from cars and trucks.<\/p>\n Moves to roll back clean vehicle standards would expose American families to \u201csignificantly more\u00a0toxic air pollution<\/a>\u00a0from vehicle exhaust, exacerbating the risks of asthma, lung disease, and heart attacks,\u201d Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments Executive Director\u00a0Katie Huffling<\/a>\u00a0said in a statement.<\/p>\n The American Lung Association and the American Public Health Association also issued statements criticizing Zeldin\u2019s massive deregulatory announcements.<\/p>\n The\u00a0American Lung Association<\/a>\u00a0called EPA\u2019s plan a \u201ctragedy for health\u201d and the\u00a0American Public Health Association<\/a>\u00a0said the rollbacks will lead to increased pollution that will \u201ccontinue to harm communities across the US.\u201d<\/p>\n Originally published by\u00a0The New Lede<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Dana Drugmand is a freelance journalist and environmental advocate who previously worked as a researcher in the Center for International Environmental Law\u2019s Climate & Energy Program.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\t<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/naturalblaze.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/air-quality-deregulation-americans-feature-1024x534-1.jpg\")
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