Across the country, our health is jeopardized by spotty air pollution monitoring. You can't make sound decisions from inadequate information.

Let's take a look at the ways environmental regulators are leaving the public exposed: https://twitter.com/PennEnvironment/status/1333804801663012869

*120 million Americans live in counties with no official air quality monitoring.

*Even in places with monitoring, some of the worst pollution is entirely missed (like the 700,000 pounds of hazardous pollution released by the explosion of the Philly refinery, which the EPA missed because their monitor only runs 1 in every 6 days).

*Even when there are monitors and they are running, they are often (deliberately) sited upwind or away from major pollution sources. Meaning the monitor isn't accurately capturing the full emissions from the polluter.

*Even when dangerous and illegal pollution is detected by official monitors, regulators sometimes choose to ignore the data anyway. Such as when the EPA tossed out 100 days of data on excessive pollution in a predominantly latino community in CA.

So what can we do about it?

Well to start, community-run monitoring projects can help. Resources like the Purple Air network that gained national prominence during this year's wildfires can help plug gaps, but are generally not valid for regulatory & enforcement decision making.

To make sure we aren't left breathing unhealthy air pollution and to hold polluters accountable for their emissions, EPA and other clean air watchdogs need to:
*Site monitors near pollution sources, rather than avoid them
*Actually run the darn monitors
*Stop cherry-picking data