This was a big year for EPA clean air protections—and for Moms fighting to get the strongest possible rules across the finish line. We saw multiple rules proposed, a few finalized, and one important protection—smog, or ground-level ozone—kicked down the road. Moms testified before EPA more than 300 times and submitted tens of thousands of public comments.
Here are the highlights of EPA’s clean air work in 2023—the good and the bad:
January 2023: EPA proposed new standards for particle pollution, or soot, that don’t go nearly far enough in protecting our children and communities. Soot pollution is one of the leading causes of premature death worldwide, yet EPA’s soot proposal falls short of the strongest limits recommended by scientific guidance. The agency has missed a key opportunity to save lives, protect health, and advance environmental justice.
Arizona organizer Hazel Chandler—who is living with asthma, respiratory issues, chronic inflammation, immune dysfunction, and stage 4 cancer—said as much in her heart-wrenching testimony at the February virtual public hearing: “I plead with you to have the courage to enact strong soot regulations without delay. Stronger standards would prevent needless stress and trauma for tens of thousands of families like mine.”
Twelve months later soot pollution remains up in the air, but we expect EPA to finalize this rule any day now. Any strengthening of our soot standards will be a step forward and will have public health benefits, but we will keep advocating for protections that keep health-harming soot out of the air.
February 2023: EPA restored the legal foundation, known as the “appropriate and necessary finding,” for the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which had been withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2020. Doing so opened the door for EPA to further strengthen protections from mercury, a toxic heavy metal that is especially harmful to babies’ and children’s developing brains.
March 2023: EPA issued the Good Neighbor Plan, which aims to reduce harmful air pollution from power plants and other industrial facilities that drifts across state borders and harms residents of downwind states. This important rule will help clean up pollution that causes smog, or ground-level ozone, by requiring that major polluters install and use pollution control devices.
March 2023: EPA granted California the authority to adopt heavy-duty vehicle emission standards that are more protective than federal standards. Other states may also adopt and enforce the stronger California emissions standards, which means families and communities across the country will be safer from health-harming diesel exhaust.
April 2023: EPA used the restoration of the legal foundation of MATS in February to propose stronger protections from mercury and other pollutants from power plants. The proposed standards specifically address pollution from the burning of lignite coal, a particularly polluting form of coal. They also strengthen protection from arsenic, lead, and chromium by requiring continuous emissions monitoring for coal plants, instead of short, periodic emissions tests.
In her testimony at EPA’s virtual public hearing in May, Moms’ Co-Founder and Director, Dominique Browning, called out coal plant operators: “It is beyond my comprehension that, in this day of sophisticated understanding of neurology, any coal plant operator would think it permissible to poison our air and water with mercury. No amount of mercury exposure is safe for the fetal brain, and the brains of babies and toddlers. Mercury disrupts the intricate and fragile architecture of the developing brain.”
We expect EPA to finalize this rule in the spring of 2024.
April 2023: Moms were on hand at EPA Headquarters in Washington, DC, when the agency announced historic standards to address climate pollution from heavy-duty trucks, a big step forward in the ongoing transition to zero-emission vehicles.
At a press event with EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Moms’ National Field Manager Liz Hurtado shared why these new rules are so important to Moms: “We know that cutting air pollution from cars and trucks drastically reduces trips to the emergency room due to asthma attacks, and it also reduces the number of older adults who struggle with lung disease and other chronic conditions. These reductions greatly improve our families’ quality of life.”
We expect EPA to finalize this rule in spring 2024.
April 2023: EPA proposed new climate and air pollution protections for cars and light trucks for model years 2027 and beyond. These standards are a significant step forward in the transition to zero-emission vehicles. They would put us on a critical path to boosting the electric passenger vehicle market share to 67% by 2032.
In her testimony at EPA’s virtual public hearing on the Clean Cars Rule in May, EcoMadre Mercedes McKinley talked about traffic pollution in her hometown, Las Vegas, a “24-hour town without a strong public transportation system”: “As the city exploded in size, so did the population, and more people means: more cars. Our lungs have been having to work harder and harder to receive the necessary oxygen, and the roadways fill with more cars every year.”
We expect EPA to finalize this rule in spring 2024.
April 2023: Wrapping up a busy April, EPA proposed standards to protect people from the hazardous air pollution emitted by more than 200 of the largest, most toxic chemical and plastic manufacturing facilities in the country.
Moms from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia testified in support of the strongest possible rules for these facilities. Ohio field organizer Tracy Sabetta shared her father’s experience working at Diamond Shamrock Chemical when a chemical holding tank ignited and caused a fatal explosion. “People need protections from these polluting facilities,” she concluded.
We expect EPA to finalize this rule in spring 2024.
May 2023: EPA proposed what we like to call the “Mother of All Power Plant Standards”—a rule to limit carbon pollution from new and existing fossil fuel power plants. The proposed standards would avoid hundreds of millions of metric tons of carbon pollution through 2042 and cut tens of thousands of tons of soot, sulfur dioxide, and smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution.
Though this rule marks a critical step toward reducing climate-heating carbon pollution, it must be implemented in ways that protect communities’ health as much as possible. It offers multiple pathways for power plants to clean up their pollution, and Moms support the cleanest and most reliable of these—namely, transitioning to renewable energy. But the rule also opened the door to unproven, potentially dangerous technologies, and many of our members, testifying at the virtual public hearing in June, urged EPA to consider the impact of these technologies on surrounding communities.
“I know we all want to solve this climate change crisis. But our rush should not come at the further expense of already burdened communities,” argued our summer intern, Osasenaga Idahor.
We expect EPA to finalize this rule in spring 2024.
August 2023: To the disappointment of Moms, EPA declined to strengthen the national air quality standards for ground-level ozone, also known as smog. Instead, the agency opted to initiate a new scientific review that will delay the adoption of stronger ozone protections indefinitely.
December 2023: In a momentous win for families’ health, EPA finalized a rule that will sharply reduce climate-heating methane and other harmful air pollutants from new and existing oil and natural operations. Moms Clean Air Force has fought for protections like these for over a decade. We are thrilled.
December 2023: After a year of pressure—including more than 16,000 messages from Moms members—EPA selected vinyl chloride for in-depth evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act. This is a first step in stronger protections from this dangerous chemical.
2023 was a banner year. But, as always, we have more work to do. Right now, we’re pushing EPA to finalize soot, mercury, car, truck, petrochemical, and power plant protections in the next few months. And we’re beginning to turn our attention to ensuring these important new rules are implemented across the country, and especially in the communities that need them the most. Join us in 2024 as we keep the pressure on EPA to protect the health of our families.
TELL PRESIDENT BIDEN & EPA: MOVE QUICKLY TO FINALIZE STRONG POLLUTION PROTECTIONS