We are a group of residents of environmental justice communities in the Greater Pittsburgh region, as well as others who have seen too many family members, friends and neighbors die because of exposure to small particle PM2.5 air pollution, or have had their health and well-being radically diminished by the toxic air we are forced to breathe.

On January 6, the EPA announced potential new standards that would lower the limit for annual average PM2.5 pollution from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to between 9 and 10 micrograms per cubic meter. This limit represents the maximum average level of air pollution in a year before regulatory agencies take steps to lower emissions to protect public health. But the new standards still set the threshold for action far too high.

We urge the EPA to adopt a more stringent standard of 8 micrograms per cubic meter. Only this tighter standard will reduce the disproportionate burden we bear for living in this country’s 1% worst places for cancers, lung and heart diseases caused by air pollution.

The best way for the EPA to fully appreciate the conditions we are forced to live under and the impact they have had on us physically and economically, is for Adam Ortiz, Region 3 EPA administrator, to meet with us face-to-face. He will see and hear for himself how decades of inaction have hollowed out once-proud communities and continue to hold them back from any true progress. His visit to Region 3 would also be one of the best ways to show residents that this EPA honors its mission of protecting health and the environment.