N. Nevada would pay health and regulatory price for Trump’s lax pollution standards, experts say

Benjamin Spillman | Reno Gazette-Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Cortez Masto urges Trump admin to keep strong clean car standards Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., discusses potential federal rollbacks of clean car standards. Masto says the Trump administration plan 'short-sighted.'



Republican President Donald Trump’s efforts to loosen vehicle pollution standards at the federal level could mean less healthy air and more local regulations in Northern Nevada.

That’s according to air quality experts who say communities in Nevada and around the U.S. would face pressure to offset increased pollution from cars with regulations on other sources of pollution.

Additional pollution from tailpipes and other sources would also put people at greater risk of health problems associated with breathing polluted air.

“In almost every community, the vehicles ... are the largest source of emissions,” said Charlene Albee, director of the air quality management division for the Washoe County Health Department. “We need all the help we can get at the federal level to get the vehicles to be as clean and efficient as possible.”

Approved in 1970, the Clean Air Act is a federal law that regulates emissions from mobile sources such as cars and trucks and stationary sources such as factories or power plants.

It sets standards for a mix of pollutants such as dust and microscopic particles and chemicals that can react with sunlight to form ozone.

The law is credited with prompting drastic, nationwide improvements in air quality.

“In general, air quality in Reno has been improving in the last few decades,” said Jim Metcalf, chief data scientist for the Healthy Nevada Project at Desert Research Institute. “It is primarily because of the air quality standards by the EPA.”

Since the initial law, the federal government has strengthened the standards which puts pressure on companies and communities to continue reducing pollution.

In Washoe County, much of the pollution, particularly when it comes to particulate matter, comes from uncontrolled sources such as Western wildfires and dust storms.

But there’s also pollution from regulated sources such as cars and trucks. Vehicle emissions produce greenhouse gases, ozone precursors and particulate matter.

Albee said Washoe County already struggles to meet federal clean air standards for pollutants such as ozone, which can increase the frequency of asthma attacks, exacerbate symptoms of lung diseases and damage lungs even after symptoms wane.

If the Trump administration successfully loosens standards for fuel economy and tailpipe emissions, the additional pollution would make attaining clean air standards at the local level even more difficult, Albee said.

Without help from the federal government, local governments would be forced to look at other measures aimed at reducing pollution by devising incentives or regulations at the local level, Albee said.

It’s too early to say what pollution sources, exactly, local officials would target to offset any increases from vehicles.

In the past, regulators have imposed rules on wood stoves, created vehicular smog test programs and instituted additional street sweeping measures.

Among the possibilities for potential new offsets are electrified loading docks to reduce diesel truck idling and incentives for ride sharing and mass transit to reduce vehicle miles traveled.

“If vehicle emissions cause ozone precursors to go up … we are going to be faced in Washoe County with having to address that,” said Matt Strickland, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Trump’s regulation rollbacks still in flux

The Trump administration’s regulatory rollbacks are still in flux, but much of the conversation centers on greenhouse gas and other tailpipe emissions, which are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, and Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, which are regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Also, under discussion are EPA regulations governing the practice of putting older, higher-polluting diesel engines on new truck bodies and rules that govern how to measure the amount of pollution in a given area to determine compliance with the Clean Air Act.

The EPA has already taken steps to roll back rules instituted under the Obama administration that would require car-makers to produce vehicles that get an average of 50 mpg. The tough standard would have put more pressure on manufacturers to sell more hybrid or all-electric vehicles.

“The Obama administration's determination was wrong,” said Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, according to USA Today. “Obama’s EPA cut the midterm evaluation process short with politically charged expediency, made assumptions about the standards that didn’t comport with reality, and set the standards too high.”

Pruitt also bashed rules that provide California a waiver to set its own, stricter standards for vehicle emissions. The standards are given much of the credit for helping California scrub smog from its notoriously dirty skies. But Pruitt and others say the federal government, not California or the other states that receive such waivers, should set standards for the entire country.

“Cooperative federalism doesn’t mean that one state can dictate standards for the rest of the country," Pruitt said in a news release. "EPA will set a national standard for greenhouse gas emissions that allows auto manufacturers to make cars that people both want and can afford."

Lax national standards shift pollution burden to locals

Although Trump has characterized various air quality regulations as “absolutely crazy” and “out of control,” people who monitor pollution on behalf of local communities say the rules are effective at protecting public health.

Miles Keogh, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, credited national regulations for paying dividends in communities throughout the U.S.

“Over the last couple decades, air quality in the U.S. has gotten a lot better,” Keogh said. “That is not just going to protect itself. There are some hard-fought gains we have got.”

Keogh said Washoe County isn’t the only community where looser rules on cars would put local officials in the unenviable position of finding new regulatory targets to offset the resulting pollution increase.

“It is small air agencies and really big ones, it is states, the whole gamut,” said Keogh, whose organization represents 156 air agencies in 41 states. “It is a big deal for everybody.”

Another Trump proposal would make it easier for communities to meet federal air quality standards. That could reduce the risk that weaker vehicle standards would force communities to introduce new local regulations. But it wouldn't alleviate the health risk associated with an increase in pollution.

Keogh said the cost of additional public health problems could greatly outweigh any savings companies achieve from reduced regulations.

“Public health is insanely valuable,” Keogh said. “By 2020, the Clean Air Act will have delivered a trillion dollars in benefits to Americans.”

In the Truckee Meadows, researchers have documented connections between health problems and air pollution.

Metcalf worked on research that used health records and air quality data to study the connection. The work showed more health problems on days when pollution levels were high.

“There are more phone calls to the hospital, there are more office visits that are made, there are more diagnoses made for lung-related illnesses,” he said.

Strickland said a rollback or plateauing of vehicle or other standards would exacerbate existing pollution-related health problems.

“If regulations cause either of those to go up, that is a problem from a health perspective,” he said. “That is something to be worried about.”

Nevada's Trump-supporting officials quiet on potential rollbacks

Despite credible warnings that weaker air quality standards could mean more local regulations and worse public health outcomes, Northern Nevada Republicans in Congress aren’t speaking out on the issue.

Neither Rep. Mark Amodei nor Sen. Dean Heller responded to repeated calls for comment on Trump’s efforts to loosen pollution standards.

Amodei was the chairman for Trump’s presidential campaign in Nevada. Heller, who is running for re-election and considered the most vulnerable Republican incumbent in the Senate, is working to associate himself closely with Trump to remain in good standing with Trump voters. Although in recent days Heller has contradicted Trump on immigration and tariff issues.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., is the only member of Nevada’s federal delegation who represents Reno and publicly opposes looser pollution standards.

“What we have seen, I think, is this administration is short-sighted in trying to roll back regulations because they can and not really recognizing the long-term impacts when it comes to what the benefits of these standards are,” Masto said in an interview.

"If you have a child who has asthma problems, you are going to be concerned about the quality of the air here in our community," she said.

Masto was one of 24 senators who signed a letter to Pruitt objecting to potential rollbacks. The letter focused on his decision to re-open an evaluation of vehicle emissions rules for model years 2022-25.

The senators disputed Pruitt’s assertions that strong pollution control standards were a drag on the automobile industry or the economy as a whole.

“Since these standards first began to be implemented, the U.S. auto industry has added 700,000 jobs and had all-time record for sales in both 2015-16,” the letter stated.

The letter also outlined health concerns tied to looser pollution controls.

“The mission of the EPA is to protect human health and the environment,” they wrote. “Regulated industries should not be able to undermine technically sound standards that have clear environmental and health benefits.”