Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 | 2 a.m.
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This past summer, the impacts of climate change were hard to ignore. It seemed like every week we saw an unprecedented climate disaster. The skyline of New York City turned orange from wildfire smoke, Los Angeles was hit by a hurricane and here in Las Vegas, we experienced devastating floods on Mount Charleston from Tropical Storm Hilary and horrible smoke from the Mojave Desert wildfires.
It’s clear that climate change is affecting lives nationwide, and especially here in Southern Nevada. Las Vegas experienced a record-breaking number of unhealthy particle pollution days, and overall ranks among the most polluted cities in the United States.
Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency has several rules that can help address climate change, improve air quality and protect health, and I urge the agency to finalize these rules as soon as possible.
The EPA has proposed standards to clean up future cars and trucks, limit methane leaks from the oil and gas industry, ratchet down on toxic air emissions from burning coal and set much-needed limits on carbon pollution from power plants. Most immediately, the rule that needs to be finalized is stronger national limits on particle pollution. These stronger standards would protect health from a deadly pollutant nationwide.
President Joe Biden must not delay. We need clean air today. Finalize stronger particle pollution standards as quickly as possible, along with the full suite of clean air standards our nation needs.
The writer is senior manager of clean air advocacy for the American Lung Association in Nevada.
