{"id":422378,"date":"2026-01-21T11:37:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T10:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=422378"},"modified":"2026-01-21T11:37:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T10:37:24","slug":"trump-epa-gets-fraud-out-of-air-pollution-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=422378","title":{"rendered":"Trump EPA Gets Fraud Out of Air Pollution Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Three<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EPA will no longer include monetized health benefits from reduced PM2.5 exposure (specifically claims of prevented premature deaths) in cost-benefit analyses for certain air quality regulations. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milloy describes this as removing “fraud” or “imaginary deaths,” arguing that the science linking typical ambient PM2.5 levels to premature mortality is “junk science” dating back to the Clinton-era EPA’s 1997 PM2.5 standards. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These benefits have inflated regulatory justifications for decades, making rules overly burdensome without real-world evidence.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

_____________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Steve Milloy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Logo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Trump Environmental Protection Agency just\u00a0decided<\/a>\u00a0to no longer inflate the monetized benefits of EPA air quality regulations with imaginary deaths prevented. This has put the greens into orbit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Daily Caller<\/a> has the story.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times headline<\/a> blared \u201cEPA to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution.\u201d The article continues: \u201cIn a reversal, the agency plans to calculate only the cost to industry when setting pollution limits, and not the monetary value of saving human lives, documents show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EPA chief Lee Zeldin\u00a0responded<\/a>\u00a0on X: \u201cYet another dishonest, fake news claim courtesy of the New York Times. Not only is the EXACT OPPOSITE of this headline the actual truth, but the Times is already VERY WELL AWARE that EPA will still be considering lives saved when setting pollution limits. The Times\u2019 unyielding commitment to destroying journalism is second to none.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(RELATED: How One White House Council Is Fighting To End \u2018Regulatory Reign Of Terror\u2019<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is going on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evaluation of a proposed rule\u2019s costs and benefits has been a commonsense administrative requirement<\/a> before setting new regulations since the Reagan administration. Until the Clinton administration, so-called cost-benefit analysis was an effective tool in stopping costly overregulation, particularly at the EPA. But the Clinton EPA figured out how to game the cost-benefit analysis process in order to issue its most expensive regulations \u2013 air quality rules that were eventually used by the Obama EPA to destroy half of the U.S. coal industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After failing in its first effort to implement an anti-fossil fuel agenda through a \u201cBTU tax<\/a>,\u201d the Clinton EPA moved to issue more stringent air quality standards for ozone. The problem is that the monetized benefits of the tighter ozone standard (possibly fewer asthma attacks triggered by outdoor air) paled in comparison to the economy-wide compliance costs of the regulation (tens of billions of dollars).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Clinton EPA\u2019s solution was to pair the ozone proposal with another proposal to regulate, for the first time, a newly invented air pollutant called \u201cfine particulate matter\u201d or \u201cPM2.5,\u201d which is microscopic dust, soot or pollen in outdoor air. As described in great detail in my 2016 book \u201cScare Pollution<\/a>,\u201d the Clinton administration developed the false and junk science-based notion<\/a> that normal levels of PM2.5 in outdoor air could cause people to die prematurely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did this help the ozone proposal? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EPA\u00a0claimed<\/a>\u00a0that regulating PM2.5 would prevent 20,000 premature deaths per year. Each prevented death, the EPA claimed, provided economic benefits of $5 million. When you multiply\u00a020,000 premature deaths<\/a>\u00a0prevented by $5 million dollars, you get $100 billion in economic benefits, which the EPA claimed would be much greater than any possible compliance costs. So, the EPA\u2019s proposed air quality rules passed the required cost-benefit test since the benefits outweighed the costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Plaque<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The EPA will no longer include monetized health benefits from reduced PM2.5 exposure (specifically claims of prevented premature deaths) in cost-benefit analyses for certain air quality regulations. Milloy describes this as removing “fraud” or “imaginary deaths,” arguing that the science linking typical ambient PM2.5 levels to premature mortality is “junk science” dating back to the Clinton-era EPA’s 1997 PM2.5 standards. These benefits have inflated regulatory justifications for decades, making rules overly burdensome without real-world evidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":422387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Discover how the EPA's new approach affects air quality regulations, removing inflated health benefits linked to PM2.5 exposure.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"EPA Excludes Imaginary Deaths from Air Quality Regulations","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvY2xpbWF0ZS1zY2llbmNlLnByZXNzXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI2XC8wMVwvQVFPRWhVbUQ2d2poR0dYcl8wS0ZzanczVlZzYWlINXlkcG9TM1ZkZGZxb2pIXzl2NTJ6R2JTTnNNLTlFZERFOGlnaGE1cnlzMkFzRF9ZMFRNbzVtTERTMHMwS0lRcWdxM2NDeW1mc0RkMkhWeWstYWJXZVFEVjFoWkRVektNRFAtMTAyNHg1NzYucG5nIiwidHh0IjoiVHJ1bXAgRVBBIEdldHMgRnJhdWQgT3V0IG9mIEFpciBQb2xsdXRpb24gUnVsZXMiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTU1ODEyNDQ5fQ.gJkjPBCQV3QlrHuMp6g_JwhiVGnk97VRVg9jmCeTji8MQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691840856,691821464,691834729,691833783,691833487],"class_list":{"0":"post-422378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-air-pollution-rules","9":"tag-environmental-protection-agency-epa","10":"tag-environmental-protection-agency-administrator-lee-zeldin","11":"tag-president-obama","12":"tag-us-president-donald-j-trump","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQOEhUmD6wjhGGXr_0KFsjw3VVsaiH5ydpoS3VddfqojH_9v52zGbSNsM-9EdDE8igha5rys2AsD_Y0TMo5mLDS0s0KIQqgq3cCymfsDd2HVyk-abWeQDV1hZDUzKMDP.png?fit=1440%2C810&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1LSy","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":337513,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=337513","url_meta":{"origin":422378,"position":0},"title":"Natural Gas Industry\u2019s Smear of Coal Is False and Self-Defeating","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"25\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Smearing coal has become a marketing strategy of a natural gas industry that embraces pseudoscientific views of coal combustion as being hazardous.","rel":"","context":"In \"CO2\"","block_context":{"text":"CO2","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=co2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/OIG-38.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/OIG-38.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/OIG-38.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/OIG-38.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":384703,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=384703","url_meta":{"origin":422378,"position":1},"title":"STEVE MILLOY: Trump Closes Notorious EPA Lab That Conducted Illegal Human Experiments","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"24\/06\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"President Trump is trying to save money by terminating leases on facilities used by federal agencies. One of these is EPA\u2019s Human Studies Facility located at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. \u201cScientists are trying to save it,\u201d\u00a0reports\u00a0Nature magazine. But being a waste of money is the least interesting aspect\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"air pollutants\"","block_context":{"text":"air pollutants","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=air-pollutants"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0ChatGPT-Image-24.-Juni-2025-17_55_40.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0ChatGPT-Image-24.-Juni-2025-17_55_40.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0ChatGPT-Image-24.-Juni-2025-17_55_40.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0ChatGPT-Image-24.-Juni-2025-17_55_40.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":357101,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=357101","url_meta":{"origin":422378,"position":2},"title":"The Climate Change\u2212Air Quality\u2212Public Health Fallacy","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"21\/12\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"We were asked by Heritage Foundation to write two papers on the alleged link between climate change, predicted changes in air quality, and public health effects. Both papers are available on their website. One paper is a discussion of a\u00a0climate change\u2212fine particulate matter\u00a0(PM2.5) \u2212public health link (or lack thereof). The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/00img-4932.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/00img-4932.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/00img-4932.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/00img-4932.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/00img-4932.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":261452,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=261452","url_meta":{"origin":422378,"position":3},"title":"Milloy sets off greens; Responds to PolitiFact inquiry on wildfire smoke","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"My appearance on Laura Ingraham\u2019s show Wednesday amid the apocalyptic air in New York City has set of the greens, including:\u00a0Salon,\u00a0The Independent\u00a0(UK),\u00a0Newsweek,\u00a0The Telegraph\u00a0(UK),\u00a0Rolling Stone,\u00a0The New Republic,\u00a0MSNBC,\u00a0USA Today,\u00a0Mediaite,\u00a0Media Matters, the\u00a0Washington Post\u00a0and more. Only PolitiFact had the decency to ask me questions me. And so here\u2019s is my response to Politifact. We\u2019ll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"EPA\"","block_context":{"text":"EPA","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=epa"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/00Screenshot-2023-06-10-140844.png?fit=1200%2C646&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/00Screenshot-2023-06-10-140844.png?fit=1200%2C646&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/00Screenshot-2023-06-10-140844.png?fit=1200%2C646&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/00Screenshot-2023-06-10-140844.png?fit=1200%2C646&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/00Screenshot-2023-06-10-140844.png?fit=1200%2C646&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":193625,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=193625","url_meta":{"origin":422378,"position":4},"title":"Unsupportable air quality regulations could wreck the American economy \u2014 Part One","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/03\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Contributors to this article include : Amir Mehrban (a) Jane Orient (b), Warren Kindzierski (c), Daren Bakst (d), Robert Obenchain (e), Barbara Nowell (f) Ronald Stein (g) Tom Golab (h) Let\u2019s first explain for our readers that PM2.5 stands for Particulate Matter of 2 and a half microns. A micron\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0EPA-Building-Plaque.jpg?fit=1200%2C803&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0EPA-Building-Plaque.jpg?fit=1200%2C803&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0EPA-Building-Plaque.jpg?fit=1200%2C803&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0EPA-Building-Plaque.jpg?fit=1200%2C803&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0EPA-Building-Plaque.jpg?fit=1200%2C803&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":272203,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=272203","url_meta":{"origin":422378,"position":5},"title":"CFACT to American Cancer Society: Reject EPA\u2019s politicized emissions standards","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/08\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"We are deeply concerned about the American Cancer Society\u2019s support for the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plan to further tighten the PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter, which has been based largely on findings from the Society\u2019s 1982 Cancer Prevention Study (CPS II).","rel":"","context":"In \"American Cancer Society\"","block_context":{"text":"American Cancer Society","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=american-cancer-society"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-284.png?fit=1200%2C732&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-284.png?fit=1200%2C732&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-284.png?fit=1200%2C732&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-284.png?fit=1200%2C732&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-284.png?fit=1200%2C732&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=422378"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":422391,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422378\/revisions\/422391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/422387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=422378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=422378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=422378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}