Air Pollution and Environmental Justice

The paper contends that particulate matter emissions cause significant health crises—including up to 200,000 annual deaths—which disproportionately affect communities of color and low-income individuals. It criticizes the EPA for failing to strengthen National Ambient Air Quality Standards and for not enforcing sanctions on states in nonattainment. However, it identifies the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 reopening of the particulate matter standards review, and the Biden administration's focus on equity as potential catalysts for change.

• Particulate matter emissions cause severe public health issues, resulting in 85,000 to 200,000 additional annual deaths, over 100,000 heart attacks, and nearly nine million cases of exacerbated asthma, with these impacts falling disproportionately on low socioeconomic status individuals and communities of color.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has failed to address particulate matter effectively through two primary policy errors: refusing to strengthen National Ambient Air Quality Standards based on flawed logic regarding environmental justice, and failing to impose sanctions on states that remain in permanent nonattainment of those standards.
• Three factors may shift particulate emission reduction into a core environmental justice priority: the discovery that particulate matter exposure increased COVID-19 death rates in disadvantaged communities, the EPA's June 2021 announcement to reopen the 2020 decision on air quality standards, and the Biden administration's prioritization of equity since January 20, 2021.

APA

Revesz, R. L. (2022). Air Pollution and Environmental Justice. Institute for Policy Integrity. https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/air-pollution-and-environmental-justice

Chicago

Revesz, Richard L. Air Pollution and Environmental Justice. Institute for Policy Integrity, 2022. https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/air-pollution-and-environmental-justice.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Revesz |first1=Richard L. |title=Air Pollution and Environmental Justice |publisher=Institute for Policy Integrity |date=7 October 2022 |url=https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/air-pollution-and-environmental-justice |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{revesz2022air, author = {Revesz, Richard L.}, title = {{Air Pollution and Environmental Justice}}, institution = {Institute for Policy Integrity}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/air-pollution-and-environmental-justice}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }