Current as of April 24, 2020:
Deadly Rollback #1: Clean Car Standards
EPA Administrator Wheeler has gutted tailpipe pollution standards, requiring automakers to increase greenhouse gas efficiency by a mere 1.5% each year, well below the 2012 standards, which required annual increases of 5%. Between now and 2050, health-harming air pollution from this rollback will cause:
- 18,000 premature deaths
- 250,000 asthma attacks
By 2040, we will see an additional
- 5 billion metric tons of climate pollution, an amount equivalent to the total pollution from 68 coal plants operating for five years
- 142 billion gallons of gasoline used
- $244 billion paid by Americans at the gas pump
Learn more: Trump’s EPA Puts Polluters Over Families — Again
Deadly Rollback #2: Freedom to Pollute
Wheeler has granted a pollution waiver for industry, giving polluters a green light to pollute during the coronavirus pandemic. He is looking the other way to tell companies that they will not face enforcement if they emit unlawful air and water pollution in violation of environmental laws. All companies have to do is claim that failure to comply can be tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
Air pollution reduces our bodies’ ability to fight infection and causes the underlying heart and lung problems that make people more vulnerable to Covid-19. Our public health safety net is being unraveled by an EPA taking advantage of the pandemic.
Learn more: Trump Exploits Coronavirus to Increase Pollution, Undermine Health
Deadly Rollback #3: Particulate Pollution
Wheeler has proposed too-weak standards for fine particulate pollution, ignoring the considerable science linking even low levels of this type of pollution to lung infections, heart attacks, and early death.
He disbanded EPA’s independent particulate matter review panel. This panel, which was comprised of 20 leading experts in the field, was supposed to help EPA review the latest science on particulate pollution in order to inform air quality standards. Without this panel, EPA lacks the expertise needed to set health-protective standards.
Learn more: Meeting of the Independent Particulate Review Panel (Union of Concerned Scientists)
Deadly Rollback #4: Censored Science
Wheeler has moved to censor the types of scientific research that EPA can consider when setting pollution standards. His “censored science” proposal would prevent relevant, peer-reviewed public health research from being considered when making decisions about the environment and human health in cases where the underlying data are not public.
EPA’s own Scientific Advisory Board—which was not consulted when the rule was being drafted—and leading scientific and public health organizations have spoken out against the proposal.
In March 2020, as our country braced for the impacts of the Covid-19, Wheeler’s EPA released a supplemental proposal that does nothing to fix the original proposal, but rather widens the restrictions on scientific studies that the agency will not be allowed to consider.
Learn more: Censoring Science Only Harms Families
Deadly Rollback #5: Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
Wheeler has continued his campaign to weaken protections from toxic mercury emissions, which come from coal-fired power plants and are particularly harmful to babies.
Mercury is one of the most toxic poisons known to science. Ingesting even small amounts of it can cause a long list of serious health threats. In adults, high-level mercury exposure can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system. But it’s a much bigger danger to babies and children. Mercury exposure can cause brain damage in infants. Mercury can affect children’s ability to walk, talk, read, and learn.
In 2005, it was estimated that more than 400,000 American babies were born each year having been exposed to unsafe levels of mercury while in the womb. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, issued in December 2011, put the first-ever national limits on hazardous air pollutants from power plants. Those pollutants include mercury, lead, arsenic, dioxin, and acid gases.
According to EPA, the current standards save up to 11,000 lives a year and prevent up to 120,000 asthma attacks. Yet despite massive health and economic benefits, Wheeler’s EPA is attacking the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.
Learn more: Moms Clean Air Force Testifies Before Congress, Again, to Defend Mercury Standards
Wheeler has more than proved he is unfit to lead EPA, especially during a global crisis. His actions are making Americans even more vulnerable to disease, at a time when our nation’s health is on the line. Moms are outraged. (Tweet this)
Wheeler must go. Now.
Deadly Rollback #1: Clean Car Standards
EPA Administrator Wheeler has gutted tailpipe pollution standards, requiring automakers to increase greenhouse gas efficiency by a mere 1.5% each year, well below the 2012 standards, which required annual increases of 5%. Between now and 2050, health-harming air pollution from this rollback will cause:
- 18,000 premature deaths
- 250,000 asthma attacks
By 2040, we will see an additional
- 5 billion metric tons of climate pollution, an amount equivalent to the total pollution from 68 coal plants operating for five years
- 142 billion gallons of gasoline used
- $244 billion paid by Americans at the gas pump
Learn more: Trump’s EPA Puts Polluters Over Families — Again
Deadly Rollback #2: Freedom to Pollute
Wheeler has granted a pollution waiver for industry, giving polluters a green light to pollute during the coronavirus pandemic. He is looking the other way to tell companies that they will not face enforcement if they emit unlawful air and water pollution in violation of environmental laws. All companies have to do is claim that failure to comply can be tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
Air pollution reduces our bodies’ ability to fight infection and causes the underlying heart and lung problems that make people more vulnerable to Covid-19. Our public health safety net is being unraveled by an EPA taking advantage of the pandemic.
Learn more: Trump Exploits Coronavirus to Increase Pollution, Undermine Health
Deadly Rollback #3: Particulate Pollution
Wheeler has proposed too-weak standards for fine particulate pollution, ignoring the considerable science linking even low levels of this type of pollution to lung infections, heart attacks, and early death.
He disbanded EPA’s independent particulate matter review panel. This panel, which was comprised of 20 leading experts in the field, was supposed to help EPA review the latest science on particulate pollution in order to inform air quality standards. Without this panel, EPA lacks the expertise needed to set health-protective standards.
Learn more: Meeting of the Independent Particulate Review Panel (Union of Concerned Scientists)
Deadly Rollback #4: Censored Science
Wheeler has moved to censor the types of scientific research that EPA can consider when setting pollution standards. His “censored science” proposal would prevent relevant, peer-reviewed public health research from being considered when making decisions about the environment and human health in cases where the underlying data are not public.
EPA’s own Scientific Advisory Board—which was not consulted when the rule was being drafted—and leading scientific and public health organizations have spoken out against the proposal.
In March 2020, as our country braced for the impacts of the Covid-19, Wheeler’s EPA released a supplemental proposal that does nothing to fix the original proposal, but rather widens the restrictions on scientific studies that the agency will not be allowed to consider.
Learn more: Censoring Science Only Harms Families
Deadly Rollback #5: Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
Wheeler has continued his campaign to weaken protections from toxic mercury emissions, which come from coal-fired power plants and are particularly harmful to babies.
Mercury is one of the most toxic poisons known to science. Ingesting even small amounts of it can cause a long list of serious health threats. In adults, high-level mercury exposure can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system. But it’s a much bigger danger to babies and children. Mercury exposure can cause brain damage in infants. Mercury can affect children’s ability to walk, talk, read, and learn.
In 2005, it was estimated that more than 400,000 American babies were born each year having been exposed to unsafe levels of mercury while in the womb. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, issued in December 2011, put the first-ever national limits on hazardous air pollutants from power plants. Those pollutants include mercury, lead, arsenic, dioxin, and acid gases.
According to EPA, the current standards save up to 11,000 lives a year and prevent up to 120,000 asthma attacks. Yet despite massive health and economic benefits, Wheeler’s EPA is attacking the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.
Learn more: Moms Clean Air Force Testifies Before Congress, Again, to Defend Mercury Standards
Wheeler has more than proved he is unfit to lead EPA, especially during a global crisis. His actions are making Americans even more vulnerable to disease, at a time when our nation’s health is on the line. Moms are outraged. (Tweet this)Wheeler must go. Now.