Diesel’s role in polluting the air will be part of a multiyear study on the origins and quantities of fine particulate matter, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
EPA has awarded $22.5 million to seven university research centers to gather air quality data over the next five years. The information is expected to enhance ongoing or new health studies, examining how this invisible matter affects public health after rising from sources like smoke stacks to wood fires.
Funding for the research comes almost a year after the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., threw out new limits on ozone and particulate matter. EPA would have lowered ozone limits from 0.12 parts per million to 0.08 ppm. For the first time, the agency would have required states to regulate particulate matter down to 2.5 microns in diameter.
However, the three-judge panel’s ruling in May sent the regulations back to the drawing board for revisions, and was a victory for the industries, including trucking, and three states involved in the lawsuit ("
Trucking Awaits Effect Of Court’s EPA Ruling," 5-24, p. 1). In August, the Justice Department petitioned the full appeals court to reconsider the decision.
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