Trump administration EPA cuts are ‘absolutely nuts,' health expert says

San Francisco Chronicle​

4 days ago

There's a threat around us 24 hours a day that the Trump administration could make even more dangerous.
Air pollution.
This dire warning comes from Dr. John Balmes and is the topic of his Open Forum on Thursday.
Balmes is a member of the California Air Resources Board and a professor emeritus of occupational and environmental medicine and pulmonary and critical care at UCSF, and in environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley.
He writes that it now seems 'the branch of government tasked with protecting our environment has been busy trying to undermine it.'
The Environmental Protection Agency under Trump is rolling back regulations and cutting funding to address climate-change-induced pollution, which Balmes told me is 'absolutely nuts.'
'Climate change is occurring, and it's due to anthropomorphic activities,' Balmes said. 'It's settled science.'
The recent rise in wildfires is making air already dirty from decades of greenhouse gas emissions worse. Wildfire smoke now accounts for at least 50% of all the fine particulate air pollution in the country, Balmes said.
This increase in wildfire smoke is negating efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions in California and elsewhere.
'It's called the climate penalty,' Balmes said.
If the government isn't going to protect us from worsening air pollution, what can people do?
'That's trickier, and really there isn't much short of environmental regulation,' Balmes said. 'I mean, you could go around wearing an N95 all the time.'
Many people in polluted cities around the world do wear masks all the time.
Balmes said the U.S. probably won't reach that point. But air quality could get a lot worse if an EPA proposal succeeds in rescinding a 2009 scientific finding by the agency that greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use endanger human health. If that happens, the federal government's main mechanism to fight climate change disappears, and every MAGA climate-change denier's dream comes true.
Even with the Trump administration AWOL on climate change, Balmes said states and local jurisdictions can continue their efforts.
'We're not going to stop in California because they've taken our (electric vehicle) mandate away,' Balmes said.
Are you concerned about air pollution and changes at the EPA? You might be after reading Balmes' op-ed. Tell me how you feel in a letter to the editor. Questions, shoot me an email: [e-mail]