The Good Neighbor Rule asks polluters to follow the simplest parenting rule in the book: when you make a mess, you clean it up—so it doesn’t become someone else’s mess.
But EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin doesn’t seem to care if polluters clean up their messes. His EPA has just released a proposal to revoke parts of the Good Neighbor Plan, a protection designed to hold industrial polluters accountable for smog-forming nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution that travels across state lines. This move would leave millions of people in downwind states vulnerable to health-harming pollution spewed into their air by their “upwind” neighbors.
Tell EPA: We Want Good Neighbors. Protect Our Families From Dangerous Ozone Pollution.
I live in one of those downwind states myself. According to EPA, Southern Connecticut has the highest smog, or ozone pollution, levels in the eastern half of the U.S. And the vast majority of this pollution comes from out of state: our state can’t meet EPA’s health standards for ozone without help from our neighbors.
We know that ozone pollution is bad for children’s developing lungs. It contributes to asthma attacks, respiratory infections, and even permanent lung damage with long-term exposure. During pregnancy, breathing in smog can increase the risk of frightening outcomes like premature birth and low birth weight.
If EPA’s proposal succeeds, children in downwind states like mine will be breathing more dangerous air—simply because Administrator Zeldin doesn’t think other states should have to clean up their mess.
Join Moms in telling EPA: Families around the country want strong Good Neighbor Rule protections—not more unhealthy air pollution.
Tell EPA: We Want Good Neighbors. Protect Our Families From Dangerous Ozone Pollution.