Biden administration seeks to limit deadly air pollution

Proposal sets out lower limits for soot, which is estimated to cause early deaths of thousands of Americans each year

The Biden administration is proposing lower limits for a deadly air pollutant, saying tougher standards for soot from tailpipes, smokestacks and wildfires could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year.

A proposal released on Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency would set maximum levels of nine to 10 micrograms of fine particle pollution per cubic meter of air, down from 12 micrograms set a decade ago under the Obama administration. The standard for particle pollution, more commonly known as soot, was left unchanged by then president Donald Trump, who overrode a scientific recommendation for a lower standard in his final days in office.