{"id":48547,"date":"2025-08-25T12:15:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earthjustice.org\/?post_type=from_the_experts&p=48547"},"modified":"2025-08-26T12:39:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:39:42","slug":"the-gridlock-scare-was-just-hot-air","status":"publish","type":"from_the_experts","link":"https:\/\/earthjustice.org\/experts\/robyn-winz\/the-gridlock-scare-was-just-hot-air","title":{"rendered":"The Gridlock Scare Was Just Hot Air"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every time stronger clean air standards are proposed, industrial polluters claim that protecting our health will stall economic progress, cost jobs, and delay new projects. When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the stronger PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard<\/a> (NAAQS) in February 2024 \u2014 taking effect in May of that year \u2014 polluters across the country once again cried foul.<\/p>\n

The NAAQS protects people\u2019s health by setting strong national limits on soot, the fine particles that come from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories, vehicles, and agriculture. Soot slips into our lungs and bloodstream, causing cancer, asthma, heart disease, and thousands of deaths each year. (See a map of soot and smog pollution in the United States.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

When the new NAAQS was proposed in 2023, the National Association of Manufacturers said stronger air quality standards would \u201cfurther weaken an already slowing economy.\u201d<\/a> The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, on behalf of polluters, also tried to stop it, claiming that adoption of a stronger standard would place \u201cas much as 30% of all counties in permitting gridlock.\u201d<\/a> It even forecasted most counties in the country would either fail to meet the standard, or have \u201climited headroom,\u201d insinuating that no project permits would be issued in some areas. Check out this explainer that gives a detailed breakdown of the Chamber\u2019s bogus claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The stronger NAAQS that the Chamber of Commerce vilified, and now Trump\u2019s EPA said this month it wants to gut<\/a>, has been in place for over a year. So we took a look at some recent permitting actions to see if the dire predictions had any merit. They didn\u2019t. Our findings show that large facilities continue to seek and receive approvals and permits for modifications and new construction, proving polluters\u2019 doomsday economic predictions are once again wrong. The new standards for air pollution do not stop permits from issuing, they only require industry keep air pollution at levels that don\u2019t harm public health.<\/p>\n

What The Permits Have to Say<\/h2>\n

Polluters have continued to submit new applications to build or expand facilities. And states have been granting those applications. Permits issued for new construction under the updated NAAQS:<\/p>\n