California Legislators Call on the EPA to Tighten Pollution Regulations Without Interfering With Controlled Wildfire Burns
California legislators on Tuesday called for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement tighter regulations on air pollution without interfering with controlled wildfire burns, in a letter to EPA (pdf).
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was joined by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) to support the EPA’s proposed ambient air quality standard, which would lower the allowable fine particulate pollution.
Extremely thick smoke from recent Canadian wildfires blanketed the Eastern Seaboard, prompting officials to issue air quality alerts. It refocused wide attention on the issue of fire pollution.
“We are concerned that the proposed rule could inadvertently hinder the ability of land managers to deploy prescribed fires that help California avoid the larger catastrophic wildfires that more significantly pollute the air and threaten public safety,” the legislators wrote in response to their support for tighter regulations….