Sean Hecht in Cal Matters: Trump’s smog decision fails to protect Californians from unhealthy air, experts say

California scientists and air quality officials said today that the Trump administration’s decision to not strengthen health standards for a key ingredient of smog fails to protect public health, particularly children with asthma.  Parts of California exceed the existing national targets for ozone by such large amounts that the EPA’s decision is unlikely to have an immediate effect, according to Sean Hecht, co-executive director, of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change at the University of California, Los Angeles.  But establishing a standard that’s protective of public health would have created a key benchmark for California and other polluted areas to achieve in the future.