A recent study by Claudia Persico and Kathryn Johnson from American University found that EPA rollbacks led to large increases in air pollution which led to increased deaths from COVID-19, in counties that had more facilities reporting to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI).
After the EPA rollback of March 26, when EPA stopped civil enforcement of environmental regulations, counties with more TRI facilities had increases in air pollution. Counties that had 6 or more TRI facilities had 13% higher levels of fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5). Further documenting our country’s environmental racism, the study found higher exposure to air pollution in counties with a larger proportion of residents who were Black.
The same counties with 6 or more TRI facilities and increased air pollution, also had a 19% increase in daily COVID-19 deaths and a 39% increase in daily COVID cases. The study was able to show statistically that the lack of enforcement led to increases in air pollution which led to increases in COVID-19 deaths.
The study compared counties with 6 or more TRI facilities to counties with 1-5 TRI facilities. To avoid problems with selection, the study included counties with at least one TRI facility. The TRI is an EPA database of facilities that release toxic chemicals in amounts that are over a specific threshold. The study adjusted statistically for weather, lockdown orders, re-opening, and other factors that could influence air pollution or COVID-19 spread.
