“As mothers who care deeply about the well-being of our children and the only planet they can call home, we are frightened,” write Moms’ Elizabeth Bechard and Celerah Hewes in an op-ed published in Time magazine last week.
We may have seen sweeping wins for climate champions in the November 3 elections, but still, Donald Trump’s EPA is powering forward with yet another slew of polluter-friendly regulations. Back in September, EPA finalized a rollback of 2024 climate pollution limits for fossil fuel power plants, like coal and gas plants. In the same breath, the agency proposed another rule that attempts to prevent future administrations from limiting climate pollution from power plants too.
And now, Trump has announced a proposal to gut methane pollution protections for oil and gas operations. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that causes climate heating much faster than carbon dioxide. It is a key driver of supercharged extreme weather—from devastating flooding to record-breaking heat to rampant wildfires—and related health impacts.
Tell EPA: Protect Families From Oil and Gas Methane Pollution
“Each [rollback] is an attack on climate protections and our children’s health at the very moment these protections are most needed,” argue Elizabeth and Celerah. “Trump’s plans come as data center expansion is rapidly increasing power demand across the country, and many utility companies and developers are responding with plans for additional fossil fuel generation, including old jet engines and heavily polluting methane gas-fueled turbines.”
More methane gas to power data centers means more methane production, which very likely means more oil and gas activity and methane leaks. And methane isn’t the only thing leaking from oil and gas operations. Other harmful air pollutants, like volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, and hydrogen sulfide, are also emitted. This pollution can increase the risk of certain cancers, lead to preterm birth and low birth weight, and exacerbate respiratory issues like asthma.
Elizabeth and Celerah put this pollution in context: “Already, nearly 18 million people in the United States, including more than 1 million young children, live near oil and gas wells that will now pollute more freely because of EPA’s actions. No parent wants pollution in their child’s lungs.”
Caregivers around the country are sounding the alarm—and calling out the Trump administration’s hypocrisy. How on earth do these attempts to reverse federal clean air and climate safeguards fit with supposed efforts to “make America healthy again”?
“The responsibility carried by all who care about keeping children safe on an increasingly chaotic planet is clear: to refuse to allow those who would harm them to have the last word,” write Elizabeth and Celerah. “So, despite the Trump administration’s unwillingness to listen to families’ concerns about its reckless environmental actions, we will keep demanding accountability. We will keep telling the EPA that protecting our children’s health and their futures matters more than record profits for the fossil fuel industry.”
Tell EPA: Protect Families From Oil and Gas Methane Pollution