CONTACT: DKC News, MomsCleanAirForce@dkcnews.com
WASHINGTON, DC– EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin finalized today a rollback of the recent updates to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). MATS have played a vital role in protecting people from mercury and other forms of hazardous air pollution from coal-fired power plants. The Biden administration’s strengthening of MATS was the first time the standards had been modernized in over a decade. In response to the announcement, Moms Clean Air Force Director & Co-Founder Dominique Browning released the following statement:
“The science is clear, and profoundly alarming. No amount of mercury is safe for babies’ developing brains. Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that damages the architecture of babies’ and children’s developing brains. This is why doctors recommend limiting tuna, salmon, and large fatty fish intake during pregnancy.
“The mercury rules were working. Toxic emissions from U.S. coal plants were dropping, and water bodies were getting cleaner. But now EPA Administrator Zeldin’s rollback of recent updates to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will allow coal plants to emit more toxic heavy metals like mercury, chromium, and lead—pollutants that contaminate our air, fall into our lakes and waterways, and poison our food supply. This is no way to make America healthy again.
“Moms Clean Air Force has been fighting for over a decade to cut dangerous mercury pollution—along with numerous other toxic air pollutants, from arsenic to acid gases—from coal-fired power plants. The solutions are at hand: scrubbers work and pollution control is not expensive. We oppose Zeldin’s harmful weakening of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms his continued allegiance to polluters over people. We will continue to advocate for the strong pollution protections and clean air our children deserve. Zeldin’s priorities are clear, and our children’s health isn’t one of them: Zeldin has corrupted EPA’s core mission to protect human health and the environment. Congress must hold him accountable with oversight hearings, and Moms say Zeldin must go.”