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![The Salt Fire burns in Shasta County, as seen from I-5 June 30, 2021. Photograph: Andrew Nixon/CapRadio](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2023/10/17/Saltfire.jpg.800x600_q85_crop.jpg)
Smoke, Screened: As U.S. wildfires pollute the skies, a loophole is obscuring the impact. Can it be fixed?
Everyone agrees it’s time to change the Clean Air act’s exceptional events rule, but has different solutions.
![Shobe has his own air monitor on his porch. Photograph: Brittany Greeson/The Guardian](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2023/10/16/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30.jpg.800x600_q85_crop.jpg)
Smoke, Screened: In Detroit, a ‘magic wand’ makes dirty air look clean — and lets polluters off the hook
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.
![Firefighters battle the Mosquito Fire near Foresthill, California on September 7, 2022. Photograph: Andrew Nixon/CapRadio](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2023/10/13/090722mosquitofirebq3a0468-2.jpg.800x600_q85_crop.jpg)
What is the exceptional events rule? The loophole letting U.S. regulators wipe air pollution from the record
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.
![A resident who stayed in Foresthill, California despite an evacuation order due to the Mosquito Fire, takes a picture of the wildfire's plume on September 7, 2022. Photograph: Andrew Nixon/CapRadio](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2023/10/15/Smoke_Screened_banner_2.png.800x600_q85_crop.png)
Smoke, Screened: How a little-known pollution rule keeps the air dirty for millions of Americans
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
![As wildfire smoke worsens public health, government watchdog calls EPA response 'ad hoc'](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2023/05/22/IMG_3853.jpg.800x600_q85_crop.jpg)
As wildfire smoke worsens public health, government watchdog calls EPA response ‘ad hoc’
Congressional investigators say the use of a regulatory loophole to erase smoke pollution from the official record is on the rise.