They, the US Government, is in the process of lowering emission standards for industry and vehicles in the United States when it should be raising them.
Have you ever heard of gravity? Probably. It means that everything is pulled towards the mass that is affecting the curvature of space time. When you throw a ball up in the air from the surface of the earth it will come back down to earth. Everyone knows that. Seems simple enough. If you let go of a glass it will fall to the floor and shatter. That is a given.
When you pour chemicals into the air they eventually fall back to earth. The fall on the fields where cattle graze, they fall in rivers and lakes where you get the water you drink, they fall into ponds and streams where livestock drink. Chemicals fall into your backyard where your children play. There is no controlling where they fall or how much. You don't know. What you do know, is that they fall. Even if they don't fall in your backyard, they may be falling where your food is grown, where the meat that you eat grazes, or on the fields that feeds the animals that become your food source.
There is no getting away from it.
Once these chemicals reach your food source and you consume them, then they get into your body, they contaminate your tissues, it gathers in your brain. What does this add up to? Probably health problems like Cancer, Liver, Kidney, Hormones, Reproductive Issues, and Mental diseases.
Over the years the EPA has been trying to control the amount of chemicals being released into the atmosphere because it is unhealthy for humans, and all living creatures, to be exposed to them. They are trying to save not only your health, but also your life.
But, greed and political power has once again poisoned our policy makers in office and they want to turn back the clock on environmental protection. It is an abomination to humanity and conscience. It doesn't matter that all of this will increase health care costs because that is another issue. All that matters is that businesses and industries can do what they please no matter who it hurts or how many people suffer.
The requirements created by the EPA have created great innovation in engineering to accommodate those requirements. Imagine if the catalytic converter had never been invented? Imagine if we had the same pollution level of the 60s today? We'd all be choking to death on that filthy air and it isn't what the levels are on a daily basis but rather the cumulative effect of decades of this on our environment?
I went for an audition in Weimar, Germany just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. East Germany had been heated by 'Braunkohl' for decades. When you visited the east after the fall of the wall you were immediately shocked by how broken down everything was. There was no paint on anything, it was all grey walls. In Weimar there was some color but only because it was a tourist destination. It was winter and I spent the night there after my audition. All night long I breathed in the air with that stench of Braunkohl'. When I woke up, I could taste it in my mouth. It was coming out of my pores. It took me days to get rid of it after I returned to the west. It was wretched.
Now, we are obviously not going to have to go through that kind of pollution...but it may be that the chemicals that they release today aren't so obvious but even more lethal. You don't know. That is why the government created the EPA to begin with, to protect us against environmental disasters.
When you get in a car wreck, you feel the effects immediately. But, when you are slowly exposed to hazardous waste the damage can be just as devastating and much more difficult to cure, it just takes a lot longer and in the meantime your life is gone.
Progress only happens when something gets better. What is important in life is clean air to breath, clean water, and clean food. Lowering environmental standards raises our exposure to environmentally unhealthy practices. It is downright stupid.
Footnote: I just walked outside to get a breath of fresh air. But, it isn't 'fresh'. There is a smell in the air that is not natural. It isn't very much, but it is definitely there and what that means is that somewhere in my vicinity some industry is releasing chemicals into the air. During the day, you don't smell this. On the other side of town it often smells like dog food, there is a dog food factory over there. So, it is happening. Now, I don't know if these smells are actually dangerous chemicals, but that isn't the point, the point is, there is a cocktail of emissions being released into the air that may affect our health. Be worried about it, or don't be, I don't control you.