Wildfire Smoke Increasingly Getting Clean Air Act Exemption, Investigation Finds

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

More than 21 million Americans are breathing air that’s dirtier than official records indicate. That’s according to a new investigation from the California Newsroom, MuckRock and the Guardian. An obscure rule in the Clean Air Act allows regions to strike so-called “natural” and “exceptional events,” like wildfires, from their pollution data on grounds that they are beyond the control of local air regulators. Since 2016, counties in California have had 166 days of pollution forgiven. And this past summer during the Canadian wildfires, more than 20 other states invoked it. As wildfires become more frequent amid worsening climate change, air regulators are expecting to use the “exceptional events” rule more often, and some lawmakers are even trying to make filing easier. We’ll hear more about the investigation’s findings and answer your questions. Related link(s): Smoke, Screened — The Clean Air Act’s Dirty Secret: An Investigation From the California Newsroom, Muckrock and the Guardian Guests: Molly Peterson, editor, The California Newsroom; has covered science with a focus on climate change for KQED News; co-author, “Smoke, Screened: The Clean Air Act’s Dirty Secret" Emily Zentner, data journalist, The California Newsroom; co-author, “Smoke, Screened: The Clean Air Act’s Dirty Secret" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:51.1	Music From KQED. From KQED in San Francisco, this is Forum.
0:54.0	I'm Mina Kim.
0:55.4	A little-known loophole of the Clean Air Act is hiding the extent of pollution from wildfires.
1:01.4	That's according to a new California newsroom investigation that finds the exceptional events rule
1:06.8	is letting local regulators strike from the record pollution from wildfire smoke, making the air
1:12.2	we breathe appear cleaner than it really is, and letting polluting industries avoid tighter
1:17.7	regulations.
1:19.4	This hour, we take a closer look at how this may be impacting our health and how we can
1:23.8	better account for the harms of wildfire smoke.
1:26.9	Join us. Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. Since 1970, the federal clean air act has set air pollution limits held polluters to account, but it's facing a 21st century challenge with climate change. A little-known provision of the Act allows local governments to strike data from pollution caused by so-called uncontrollable events, including wildfires. And a new investigation by the California Newsroom,
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