Moms Clean Air Force loves to hear from political leadership. Here’s a guest post from Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico. His message that moms’ voices matter – is so important as we ask our Senators to fight the TRAIN Act. Thank you, Senator Udall, for your support for clean air!
A child playing outside for an hour will breathe in more than two-and-a-half pounds of air. It’s the Clean Air Act and the pollution standards enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that ensure this air is healthy for our kids.
Children are much more susceptible to air pollution and more likely to develop health problems — including childhood asthma — from exposure to dirty air. I will defend every child’s ability to breathe clean air. Keeping our children healthy and safe from these pollutants is not controversial, it’s commonsense.
Hearing from parents in support of clean air is more important today than it has ever been.
Over the past few months, Congress has been debating parts of the Clean Air Act and the EPA’s pollution standards. Powerful special interests are attempting to use this debate to roll back clean air standards, which would mean putting children unnecessarily at risk. We need to fight to protect Clean Air.
Last year, this law protected American families from 1.7 million asthma attacks, 130,000 heart attacks and 86,000 emergency room visits. In New Mexico, more than 170,000 residents suffer from asthma, and more than 47,000 of them are children. The last thing these children need is more pollution from power plants, oil refineries, mines, and cement kilns.
The Clean Air Act also protects pregnant mothers and developing children from mercury, a neuro-toxin that creates problems in brain development, including attention and memory problems.
As a lawmaker — and a parent — I’ll always stand up for environmental health.
And hearing your voice is more important than ever.
Messages sent to a member of Congress really do make a difference – we want to hear about the issues that are impacting our constituents, and clean air impacts everyone.
My office has received hundreds and hundreds of emails and calls in support of the Clean Air Act. Several of those emails were from New Mexico parents of children with asthma, who expressed deep concerns about the impact on their lungs of rolling back these important laws.
At a Senate committee hearing this summer I shared some of those messages with my Senate colleagues:
America’s environmental laws are public health laws, and the Clean Air Act protects the air that our children breathe.
Opponents of our environmental laws say that they hurt economic growth, but they have it backwards.
Healthy families are more productive families who contribute to strong economic growth. In addition, America is the global leader in innovating and manufacturing pollution control technology. We should never have to choose between our health and our economy— America’s environmental laws make our economy stronger.
So keep the pressure on Congress to do the right thing. Let us know what the Clean Air Act means to you and why you want healthy air for your family.
Thank you Senator Udall for all your great work. Join Moms Clean Air Force, and use the power of mother love – a real force of nature.