"More than 80 congressional Democrats, led by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), urged the Biden administration to strengthen proposed rules on soot pollution in a letter Tuesday.

The letter calls the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) January proposal, which would set the standard for fine particulate matter in the air at 9 to 10 micrograms per cubic meter, insufficient; instead they call for a standard of eight instead. This standard, the members wrote, is in keeping with the recommendations of the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. The committee has said the higher standard would save double the amount of lives annually by 2032.

“The federal government has an obligation to remediate environmental injustices that for too long have been shouldered most by Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities across our country,” Markey said in a statement."

Zack Budryk reports for The Hill March 28, 2023. [2]