Moms express outrage at EPA’s attack on the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards; Statement from Dominique Browning on why more pollution linked to brain damage in babies is unforgivable
PRESS STATEMENT
March 6, 2020
Contact: Sasha Tenenbaum, 917.887.0146, stenenbaum@momscleanairforce.org
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler finalized his attack on the life-saving Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. In response, leading clean air advocate and author Dominique Browning, who co-founded and directs Moms Clean Air Force, issued this rebuke:
“This attack on the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards is an outrage to anyone who cares about babies and children. To eviscerate standards that safeguard Americans against pollution linked to brain damage in babies is unforgivable.
“For more than a year, we have been mystified as to why Trump’s EPA would cripple a rule that is a fully implemented, highly effective pollution standard that is protecting babies’ brains from mercury and other air toxics from coal plants. The rule finalized today by Administrator Wheeler would allow coal-fired power plants to spew more mercury into the air. And make no mistake: Right now the US gets 24 percent of its energy from coal.
“As a mother, and as a grandmother, I am appalled that Trump’s EPA has finalized a rule that so severely compromises our nation’s greatest resource: The brains and bodies of our children. This is a direct assault on our children, but especially those in low-income and minority communities who are disproportionately harmed.
“For this administration to gamble willfully with our children’s health for the benefit of coal industry polluters crosses the line for moms, dads, and advocates for children everywhere. In opposing this attack, Moms Clean Air Force stands shoulder to shoulder with a diverse coalition of stakeholders — including members of Congress from both parties, the American Academy of Pediatrics, faith leaders, the NAACP, and even the regulated industry itself. Together, we urged Administrator Wheeler not to move forward with this plan. By ignoring these voices, Wheeler today has shown that his true priorities lie far from babies, children, moms and families. This EPA administrator, and this president, clearly care more about coal company profits than they do about our children.
“We will not allow our children to be poisoned. We will continue to do what we parents do best: challenge this rollback with the full power of our more than one million members, for the health-harming hypocrisy that it is.”
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About Moms Clean Air Force: Moms Clean Air Force is a community of over one million moms—and dads—working together to fight air pollution, including the urgent crisis of our changing climate. For more information, go to http://www.momscleanairforce.org/or follow us on Twitter @CleanAirMoms, Instagram @cleanairmoms, or Facebook.