NPR (KCRW) | "EPA rollback may damage public health"
NPR interviewed Dr. Michael Jerrett, professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, on the future of California's environmental laws.
NPR affiliate KCRW-FM interviewed Dr. Michael Jerrett, professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, on how a recent decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may impact Californians.
"Earlier this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rolled back what's known as the endangerment finding, which was the federal government’s legal authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
The 2009 finding determined that six greenhouse gases were a threat to human health. Without it, the federal government cannot regulate the pollutants that are pumped out of cars, trucks, power plants, and more.
UCLA professor and air quality researcher Michael Jerrett says less regulation could lead to more pollution, more extreme heat events and higher wildfire risks.
“It will take some time for the emissions to work their way through the system and begin to make those conditions worse,” he says. “But what we know is that many of these effects are already being experienced, so anything that even tilts them a little bit further in an adverse direction can have fairly immediate public health impacts.”
