Everyone agrees it’s time to change the Clean Air act’s exceptional events rule, but has different solutions.

Across the US, local governments, lobbyists and industry have spent millions to get wildfire pollution excluded from the record. People like Robert Shobe pay the price.

MuckRock and The California Newsroom spent a year requesting and analyzing EPA data on air pollution and talking with experts about what the data means. Here’s how we did it and what it means for the more than 21 million Americans impacted by a regulatory loophole in the Clean Air Act.

First pushed through by the Republican senator and climate denier Jim Inhofe, the rule has become a “regulatory escape hatch” for states that want to meet federal air-quality standards.

Major investigation shows local governments are increasingly exploiting a loophole in the Clean Air Act, leaving more than 21 million Americans with air that’s dirtier than they realize