EPA air chief Aaron Szabo was swift to stress his personal stake in the job at his Senate confirmation hearing in March.
As a sufferer of the life-threatening lung disease cystic fibrosis, “I have always been acutely aware of air quality,” Szabo told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. If confirmed, he added, “I will work to ensure that we are mitigating traditional air pollution.”
Instead, just weeks after narrowly winning Senate approval, Szabo is marching ahead with the rollback of a seminal air quality standard intended to better protect him and millions of other people with chronic respiratory illnesses.
In a court filing last week, he declared that the Trump administration has set next February as the target date for final replacement of the stricter soot exposure limit put in place last year during President Joe Biden’s tenure.
