By: Patrice Tomcik, Senior Field Director, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: July 8, 2025
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0124-0001
To: Environmental Protection Agency
My name is Patrice Tomcik and I am the Senior Field Director for Moms Clean Air Force, a community of 1.5 million moms united to equitably protect children’s health from air pollution and climate change.
I live in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania located within the Greater Pittsburgh region with my husband and my two young children. Moms Clean Air Force strongly opposes efforts to roll back the Carbon Rule. Strong climate pollution standards for power plants are vital for protecting families from harmful greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming and endanger human health.
Power plants are responsible for roughly a quarter of climate pollution in the U.S. In Southwestern Pennsylvania where I live, two coal fired power plants—the Keystone and Conemaugh power generating stations—are still operating and emitting very large amounts of climate warming air pollution.
Climate change has contributed to shorter, warmer winters providing ideal conditions for Lyme disease carrying ticks to thrive and multiply faster especially in the Northeast. Children aged five to nine have the highest historical rates of Lyme disease of any age group. Tick checks have become a standard routine in our house as I have repeatedly had to remove them from my family, dogs and myself followed by a preventative round of antibiotics. Unfortunately, I must have missed the detection of a nymph tick last summer since I was immobilized with joint pain and swelling. A test ordered by my doctor confirmed I had Lyme disease and I underwent the 14 day antibiotic treatment. I still have severe joint pain. This steep increase in vector borne infectious disease rates will only increase if commonsense pollution controls that are in the carbon rule are weakened.
In addition to their climate benefits, the rule can also cut other pollution such as particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide that are harmful to health. I have lived my whole life in Southwestern Pennsylvania and grew up living 2 miles downwind from the coal-fired Cheswick power generating station which shuttered in 2022. As a child, I watched the plums from the stacks of the Cheswick plant float over the river towards the playground where I played. I missed a lot of school due to chronic bronchitis and now as an adult I have respiratory problems. It is well known that the Greater Pittsburgh Region has some of the worst air pollution in the nation according to the American Lung Association.
The good news is that there are better alternatives to fossil fuels such as clean, renewable and sustainable wind and solar energy and I support the acceleration of these healthier energy sources.
In summary, EPA must not repeal climate pollution protections for power plants. The health and well-being of our families, communities, and future generations are at stake.