In a bold move to protect public health, EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced the finalization of a suite of new rules that will address pollution from fossil fuel power plants—the polluters responsible for almost one-quarter of the climate pollution generated by the U.S. As our Director and Co-Founder Dominique Browning says, this new set of standards “signify unprecedented progress in cleaning up pollution from the power sector.”
This package of safeguards includes two key clean air protections: the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) and the Carbon Rule. MATS provides critical protections from mercury and other heavy metals like arsenic, lead, and chromium, and the Carbon Rule significantly cuts climate-warming and health-harming pollution from fossil-fuel power plants. In response to the rules, Dominique and Moms’ organizers across the country released celebratory statements.
Moms (and experts) have been saying it for years: No amount of exposure to mercury is safe. In our statement on MATS, Dominique writes:
“Moms Clean Air Force has been working on strengthening protections from mercury and other air toxics for more than a decade… And it is a step toward addressing long-standing inequities in exposure to mercury pollution, inequities borne heavily by communities living near coal plants and communities relying on fish as a primary food source.”
Our field organizer in Colorado, Shaina Oliver, is among those impacted by this environmental injustice. Shaina says:
“As an Indigenous Díné mother of four, I know from painful experience that Tribes have long been unjustly impacted by power plant pollution… I have asthma and was born with developmental abnormalities. My grandfather was a coal plant worker, forced to retire early due to frequent asthma attacks on the worksite.”
The Carbon Rule also provides essential protections for our children’s health. In a second statement, Dominique writes:
“For millions of families and communities across the United States, pollution from fossil fuel power plants has lingered in the air for far too long as a threat to vulnerable bodies and psyches. The Carbon Rule finalized today will tackle climate pollution and cut tens of thousands of pounds of particle pollution, sulfur dioxide, and smog-forming nitrogen oxide.”
Arizona field organizer Hazel Chandler echoes Dominique, sharing her unique perspective as a great-grandmother:
“EPA’s suite of new power plant standards put us squarely on the path to securing a healthy, safe environment for generations to come. As a mom, grandmom, and great-grandmom, there is nothing more meaningful than that. I want to be able to look my three great-grandchildren in the eyes and tell them that we did everything we could to protect their future. With this rule, I’m closer to being able to do that.”
Learn more about Moms’ work on mercury and carbon pollution.