---

Last week, the Biden administration moved to lower the federal standard for fine particulate matter, also known as soot, a move environmental experts say will likely lead to new pollution restrictions in Wayne County. 

Fine particulate matter is defined as particles that are 2.5 microns or less in diameter (PM2.5). Inhaling PM2.5 is linked to illnesses like heart disease, respiratory infections, chronic lung disease, cancers and preterm births and disproportionately impacts low-income areas and communities of color. The new rules will prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths annually, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Climate change-driven wildfires are adding to the threat from PM 2.5, although various sources produce soot, including smokestacks, roads and construction sites.

The EPA lowered the standard for PM 2.5 from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to 9 µg/m³. Air monitors in southwest Detroit, Dearborn and Downriver regularly show levels above the EPA’s new threshold. According to Nick Leonard, executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, new restrictions could be placed on industry.

And developments like the Gordie Howe International Bridge and a recently approved permit for the Edward C. Levy Co. slag grinding facility near Zug Island could complicate efforts to bring pollution under control. Meanwhile, state regulators may again seek to discount air quality data from some days with wildfire smoke, influencing which areas see restrictions.

What nonattainment areas could look like

Wayne County will likely be placed in “non-attainment” for the pollutant under the Clean Air Act, meaning levels in the area exceed the national ambient air quality standard, according to Leonard. Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy will then have to come up with a strategy to bring the area into compliance, which could make it more difficult for industry to obtain permits and locate new facilities in the area.

Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action suggested areas around Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids may also receive nonattainment designations. But it’s unclear what exactly the footprints for these non-attainment areas might look like.

EGLE and EPA previously put the seven-county area around metro Detroit in nonattainment for ozone based on the pollutant’s ability to travel. For sulfur dioxide (SO2), a more localized pollutant, a map was created for two relatively small non-attainment areas in southeast Wayne County and southern St. Clair County. Leonard said PM 2.5  can travel somewhere between these two pollutants, and he expects a non-attainment map to reflect that.

“You probably can’t expect it’s going to look like the ozone map, where it’s bringing in the entire Southeast Michigan region,” he said. However, he noted that monitors in Macomb and St. Clair counties have also had high PM 2.5 readings.

Whether EGLE disregards monitoring data from days with wildfire smoke under the “exceptional event” provision of the Clean Air Act could influence which areas are placed in non-attainment. This rule allows states to request the EPA to exclude from regulatory consideration air monitoring results that may be influenced by things outside of regulatory control, like wildfires, dust events, and stratospheric ozone intrusions.

EGLE did this with data from June 2022 at an air monitor on East 7 Mile Rd., allowing the EPA to place the metro Detroit region into attainment for ozone. Environmental justice advocates challenged the move, charging the agency with manipulating data and failing to protect communities affected by pollution. The Sierra Club and GLELC submitted an appeal to reverse the EPA’s decision to exclude the data.  

EGLE spokesperson Jill Greenberg said the agency still needs to collect data to determine non-attainment areas and will use monitoring results from 2022-2024 or possibly 2023-2025. It may take several years for non-attainment areas to be determined and restrictions put in place.

“It is likely that Wayne County will be designated as in ‘nonattainment.’  Other areas of the state may also be designated in ‘nonattainment,’ but it’s too early to say with any certainty,” Greenberg told Planet Detroit.  She said more data analysis was needed to determine if any exceptional events demonstrations would be pursued for any areas.

However, Leonard said that environmental advocates are more aware that EGLE might try to use the exceptional events rule.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that it has the potential to be used frequently for some of the wildfire smoke that we saw from 2023,” he said. “People are more aware of it, so [advocates] can get out in front of it a bit and put more pressure on [EGLE].”

The Gordie Howe Bridge, which is set to open in 2025, and the Levy facility will add more pollution in southwest Detroit just when PM 2.5 will need to be reduced. The bridge will create an estimated 50% increase in cross-border traffic, bringing tailpipe emissions and brake and tire dust, all contributing to PM 2.5 pollution.

A nonattainment designation could be the beginning of a lengthy process. The timeline for implementation will take until at least 2027. And the new standard will likely become a fraught election issue with strong opposition from industry and manufacturing groups. Trump declined to reduce the standard while he was president.

Leonard said getting agencies to take timely action can also be a challenge, which he said was demonstrated when southwest Detroit and Downriver exceeded federal standards for SO2 in 2103.

“What we’ve seen a lot of is EPA and the state missing deadlines,” he said. Environmental groups sued the EPA in 2021 for failing to put forward an action plan for SO2 in Wayne County.   

“Then it’s a matter of making sure that whatever plan they’re coming up with is actually going to work,” he said.