Particulate matter: US government permits emissions without restriction
The air in the USA is significantly worse than in Europe, the limit values are less stringent. Nevertheless, the government around President Trump continues to allow particulate matter emissions as before.
A new regulation of the still incumbent government around President Trump allows the emission of the dangerous fine dust PM 2.5 without stricter controls. The government's independent environmental protection agency had previously warned that the fine particles were extremely harmful to health. In April, a study by Harvard University in Massachusetts had shown that particulate matter can also have a negative impact on the course of Covid-19. According to the research results, about 15% more people die from the virus if they had lived for years in areas with high levels of particulate matter.
The issue of environmental zones and air pollution therefore also plays a much smaller role in the USA than in Europe. In most cities in the USA there is hardly any public transport and people are dependent on the car. SUVs and diesel cars in general are also very popular. Air pollution limits are often much higher than in our country. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for example, classifies nitrogen oxides as harmful to health only at much higher concentrations: the concentration measured in parts per trillion (ppb) can be as high as 50 ppb. This would correspond to 103 micrograms per cubic metre and would thus be about 2.5 times higher than the concentrations permitted in our country. This value has not yet been measured on any road in Europe.
The question arises: are the limits in Europe too strict, or is the USA putting your citizens in enormous danger because you do not regulate the dangerous fine dust particles and nitrogen oxides sufficiently? In recent years, the US government has taken many decisions against environmental legislation, so the new regulation against the control of fine dust emissions fits the bill and is certainly too lax.
Nevertheless, the European low emission zones could possibly be dealt with in a different way, pushing cities to take less hasty measures that cost a lot of taxpayers' money but have little effect.