EPA finalizes new regulations on soot

Soot unfurls from a smokestack with the orange sun in the backdrop — The EPA’s tougher regulations on fine particulate matter would target emissions from smokestacks and tailpipes.

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons

We could soon be breathing cleaner air — thanks to new regulations on soot

The EPA says this will save 4,500 premature deaths.

The EPA’s tougher regulations on fine particulate matter would target emissions from smokestacks and tailpipes.

By Lynnea Domienik

Fine particulate matter (or PM 2.5) is teeny tiny, and it gets buried deep in people’s lungs causing respiratory problems — it’s even been linked to cancer. But new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency on industries like factories, power plants and cars will strengthen the air quality standard from 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air, to 9 micrograms per cubic meter.

Reset learns how this change will improve people’s health, and how this will impact our daily lives.

GUESTS: Michael Hawthorne, reporter at the Chicago Tribune

Brian Urbaszewski, director of Environmental Health Programs at the Respiratory Health Association