Contact: Mollie Michel, mmichel@momscleanairforce.org, (267) 981-1648
Tomorrow, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler will appear before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for an oversight hearing. In response, Dominique Browning, Co-founder and Senior Director of Moms Clean Air Force, released the following statement:
“Moms across the country have been demanding that Congress hold EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler accountable for his sinister campaign to undermine public health under cover of Covid-19,” said Browning. “Since the pandemic hit our shores, he has proposed an onslaught of rollbacks and freezes designed to satisfy polluting industries at the expense of our children’s health. Wheeler is undermining health protections from toxic mercury, tailpipe pollution, deadly soot, and more, even as he loosens environmental enforcement. He is easing up on health-harming pollution even as a respiratory pandemic preys on those with underlying health conditions. Moms Clean Air Force is pleased that tomorrow, Wheeler will come before the Senate committee charged with EPA oversight. It’s time Congress takes a close look at the extent to which Wheeler, a former coal company lobbyist, is flouting his agency’s mission to protect human health. This administration, with Wheeler at the helm of EPA, is certainly making it easier for people to get sick, and harder to get well.”
Using the Covid-19 pandemic as cover to undermine public health protections, Administrator Wheeler has:
- Weakened tailpipe standards for cars and light trucks, gutting the nation’s most significant policy to address climate pollution;
- Loosened compliance and enforcement of pollution standards, giving industry the freedom to pollute during the coronavirus pandemic;
- Moved forward with a proposal to refuse to strengthen standards protecting us from fine particle pollution;
- Moved to censor the types of scientific research that EPA can consider when setting pollution standards; and
- Undermined protections from toxic mercury emissions.
EPA MOVES UNDER COVER OF COVID
While COVID-19 spreads across the United States, EPA Chief Wheeler pushes a radical pro-polluter agenda.
January 21
U.S. confirms first case of COVID-19.
January 30
World Health Organization declares Global Health Emergency.
February 29
Washington state reports the first COVID-19 related death in U.S.
March 13
President Trump declares a national emergency.
March 17
U.S. Covid-19 deaths reach 100.
March 18
Wheeler publishes the Censored Science Supplemental Proposal, expanding his dangerous effort to restrict the agency’s use of science when setting public health protections. This would allow EPA to cast aside many widely accepted studies that demonstrate the harm of toxic chemicals and pollution as well as vital coronavirus research.
March 26
U.S. leads the world in number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
March 26
Days after the American Petroleum Institute asked Wheeler to relax requirements, EPA claims “enforcement discretion” to allow polluters to violate certain environmental and health protections during the pandemic.
March 27
U.S. becomes the first country to exceed 100,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
March 31
Wheeler finalizes Clean Cars Rollback, subjecting Americans to an estimated 18,500 more premature deaths; 250,000 athma attacks; 350,000 respiratory ailments by 2050; and 1.5 billion tons of climate pollution and $244 billion more in fuel costs by 2040.
April 5
Harvard releases new research showing the possible link between air pollution and higher death rates from COVID-19.
April 11
U.S. COVID-19 deaths reach 20,000, the highest of any country in the world.
April 14
Wheeler proposes not to strengthen standards for particulate matter, which is responsible for an estimated 85,000 deaths in the U.S. every year.
April 16
Wheeler announces final action undermining the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards — safeguards implemented and in effect today that prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths and 130,000 asthma attacks among children each year.
April 29
U.S. COVID-19 deaths have risen to 60,407, with over 1,000,000 documented cases in the country.
Updated: 04/29/20
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