The Trump administration is putting millions of people at risk by attempting to roll back standards that safeguard communities located near chemical facilities. The regulations that EPA is trying to gut are designed to help prevent chemical accidents in over 11,500 facilities across the nation. These proposed changes come at a time when families need more protections, not fewer, from the chemical industry.
Just last month, a chemical tank at a paper mill ruptured and killed 11 people in Washington. This tragedy unfolder just after 50,000 people evacuated in Southern California because a chemical tank was overheating and at risk of exploding.
More than a third of U.S. children attend schools that are at risk for chemical disasters, which happen every 1 to 2 days in this country.
“There is so much more that can and must be done to prevent chemical disasters and mitigate the life-altering and life-ending horrors that result,” says Moms’ Senior Analyst for Petrochemicals, Cynthia Palmer, in the The Hill, which ran in dozens of outlets nationwide.
Tell Congress: Hold Zeldin Accountable for Corrupting EPA’s Mission
In other news
- Ever since Moms Field Organizer Amanda Rowoldt (pictured) captured footage of black smoke billowing out of a Freepoint Eco-Systems “advanced recycling” plastics incinerator in Hebron, Ohio, last year, she has worked relentlessly alongside partners to demand accountability and transparency from the company. On May 28, Freepoint announced that they would be suspending their Ohio operations—a huge win for clean air in the community. “Suspending operations will ensure an end to the harmful pollution caused by burning plastic waste, bringing long-overdue relief to nearby families,” Amanda told Plastics News. The suspension was also covered by the Newark Advocate, Eco-Plastics in Packaging, The Reporting Project, and WOSU.
- In Fierce, National Manager for Health Justice Almeta Cooper reflects on the new documentary The Plastic Detox and how it helped her realize her own beauty and personal care products are loaded with toxic chemicals.
- Georgia Public Radio uplifts Moms Field Organizer Kiya Stanford‘s efforts to demand stronger heat safety protections for Black and Latino communities in Atlanta, which recently culminated in a press event outside the City Hall.
- Earth911 quotes Kiya’s testimony from a recent EPA hearing, where she spoke alongside dozens of other Moms calling EPA’s move to exempt a type of plastic incineration from Clean Air Act protections a “move to prioritize polluters over people.”
- Pennsylvania Campaign Coordinator Vanessa Lynch called Governor Josh Shapiro’s new GRID (Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development) Data Center Principles a “positive first step toward protecting fenceline families who will be most burdened by dirty onsite diesel generators,” in PA Environmental Digest.
- In Public News Service and Big News Network, Vanessa explains that Pennsylvania’s Protect Domestic Oil and Gas Small Business Act of 2026 would exempt low-producing conventional oil wells from federal oversight, endangering communities near these wells that would be exposed to toxic pollutants such as methane, benzene, and toluene.
Honorable mentions
Over the last few weeks, Moms earned mentions in PA Environment Daily, Ohio State Public Magazine, Michigan Live, and Michigan Advance.
Tell Congress: Hold Zeldin Accountable for Corrupting EPA’s Mission