The California Air Resources Board (CARB) released a report this week that claims fine particle air pollution (PM 2.5) causes 9,000 pre-mature deaths each year in California.
The CARB report was based on recent work done by the USEPA. Part of a federal review of clean air standards done every 5 years, the USEPA effort was peer reviewed by the federal Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. USEPA concluded that there is a causal relationship between PM 2.5 and premature deaths.
CARB will use this information to help justify new regulations that will impact various industries, including those that rely on equipment burning diesel fuel.
As you may be aware, CARB's position on this matter has come under fire due to earlier revelations that a CARB staffer who managed a previous report on the subject lied about having a PhD in the field. Some members of CARB, including Chairman Mary Nichols, allegedly knew of this but failed to bring it to the attention of the rest of CARB. A local newspaper reporter, Lois Henry of The Bakersfield Californian, reported on this months ago and has followed the issue closely ever since.
In fact, Ms. Henry has raised questions about this latest report as well. In a recent article she reports that the USEPA report fails to acknowledge and/or misrepresents research studies that may contradict the final report's conclusions. In short, she has reported that other studies do not show that PM 2.5 exposure results in premature deaths.
She also has reported that one of the dissenting researchers is in danger of losing his job at UCLA because he has consistently presented opposing views and conclusions to what appears to be prevailing thought.
A link to the CARB report and the USEPA report can be found here: CARB PM2.5 Report.
A link to a recent article by Lois Henry can be found here: Lois Henry and PM2.5
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