The EPA Will No Longer Account for Lives Saved when Regulating some Air Pollutants

The EPA will no longer calculate the lives saved thanks to air pollution restrictions

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a significant shift in how it assesses air pollution standards. From now on, the agency will still recognize and describe the impacts of pollution on human health — such as premature deaths avoided or reduced respiratory disease — but those effects will no longer be translated into economic figures in cost-benefit analyses. Instead, regulatory assessments will focus on the costs businesses…

US Will Stop Considering Pollution’s Cost to Health

Click to expand Image A home near a coal-fired power plant in Cheshire, Ohio, US, April 14, 2025. © 2025 Joshua A. Bickel/AP Photo The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on January 12 that it will no longer ascribe an economic value to saving lives and improving public health when considering whether to curb harmful air pollutants. This move could weaken emissions standards and imperil communities exposed to toxic pol…

The EPA will no longer account for lives saved when regulating some air pollutants

Instead the focus regulatory analysis almost entirely on costs to industry.

Sorry, the EPA No Longer Cares About Your Health

The organization’s updated regulations will protect corporate profits though.

EPA drops health cost calculations for air pollution: How it could harm Detroiters

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