His EPA Now Ignores Human Health Costs When Setting Air Pollution Standards
On January 14, 2026, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency changed how it calculates air pollution standards. The new rule says the EPA can no longer consider the dollar value of pollution’s impact on human health when determining acceptable levels of polluted air.
Read that again. The EPA cannot consider what pollution does to human health when deciding how much pollution is acceptable.
This isn’t complicated policy. This is deliberate cruelty dressed up as regulation.
Here’s how it worked before. When the EPA set pollution limits, they’d do cost-benefit analysis. On one side: corporate cleanup costs. On the other: money saved from fewer asthma attacks, heart attacks, premature deaths, emergency room visits, sick days, children with damaged lungs.
They’d weigh costs against benefits. If reducing pollution saves more lives and money than it costs companies, the regulation makes sense. Basic math. Rational policy.
Trump’s EPA just threw that out. Now they can only look at one side of the equation. How much does it cost corporations? That’s it. That’s the only number that matters.
What happens when your kid has an asthma attack from air pollution? Doesn’t count. Someone dies of lung cancer from poisoned air? Irrelevant. Medical bills when elderly people have heart attacks from smog? Not part of the calculation.
Corporate profits? Those count. Human lives? Those don’t.
You know what this means? Every polluter in America can challenge every air quality regulation by saying it’s too expensive. And the EPA must ignore every study showing deaths, sick kids, billions spent treating pollution-related diseases. All inadmissible.
The coal plant pumping sulfur dioxide into your air? They’ll argue scrubbers cost too much. The EPA can’t counter with “this prevents 500 heart attacks yearly.” That number doesn’t exist anymore.
The factory spewing particulate matter? They’ll say emission cuts cost too much. The EPA can’t respond with “this prevents 200 kids from developing chronic respiratory disease.” Not allowed.
This is what happens when you put former industry lobbyists in charge of the agency meant to protect you from industry. Trump’s EPA isn’t working for you. It’s working for the companies that want to keep polluting without paying for the damage they cause.
And make no mistake: they’re causing damage. Air pollution kills tens of thousands of Americans yearly. It triggers asthma attacks. Causes heart disease. Damages developing brains. Shortens lifespans. These aren’t statistics. These are real people dying preventable deaths because corporations won’t spend money on pollution controls.
Trump’s EPA just made it easier for those corporations to argue against any regulation, no matter how many lives it would save. Because saving lives isn’t part of the equation anymore. Only corporate cost matters.
They took human health out of the Environmental Protection Agency’s calculations. The agency with “Protection” in its name no longer protects you. It protects polluters.
Your lungs are now worth less than their quarterly profits.
Still think he’s draining the swamp?
Sources:
NPR: “The EPA has long considered the health benefits from air pollution rules. That’s changing”
ABC News: “What to know about the new EPA rule on air pollution”
The Washington Post: “EPA will no longer consider health costs in pollution regulations”
Planet Detroit: “EPA drops health cost calculations for air pollution”