Date: July 18, 2023
To: The Honorable Michael S. Regan, Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Administrator Regan,
On June 9th, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) published a letter in response to EPA’s Policy Assessment (PA) for the Reconsideration of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Six of the seven CASAC members concluded that the scientific evidence indicates that the level of the current primary standard is not sufficiently protective of public health, and recommended a revised NAAQS in the range of 55 to 60 ppb.
Moms Clean Air Force strongly supports CASAC’s recommendation to strengthen the NAAQS for ozone. As an organization dedicated to our children’s right to breathe clean air, we are especially concerned about the health impacts of ozone on children. Breathing air polluted with ozone has been linked to a range of adverse health effects, including increased hospital admissions and emergency department visits for asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Children are especially vulnerable to the harms of ozone because their lungs are still developing, and because they are more likely than adults to play outside when ozone levels are high. Heartbreakingly, exposure to ozone during pregnancy has also been linked to adverse birth outcomes.
Research shows that ozone is particularly dangerous for children with asthma. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), nearly 5 million children under the age of 18 in the US have asthma—it is a leading chronic disease in children. And even though asthma is a treatable condition, an estimated 50% of children with asthma have uncontrolled disease. In areas around the country where the air quality is poor, children are often struggling to breathe. Last year, the American Lung Association found that 3 out of every 8 Americans (including nearly 28 million children) lived in counties with failing grades for ozone smog.
We know that the impact of ozone-polluted air isn’t distributed evenly, with communities of color far more likely to live in areas with poor air quality. Children of color bear a unique and heartbreaking burden: non-Hispanic Black children are more than two times as likely to have asthma as their non-Hispanic white counterparts, and nearly 8 times more likely to die from asthma.
Many of our more than 1.5 million Moms Clean Air Force members are parents of children with asthma, and know from painful first hand experience what it’s like to rush a child who is struggling to breathe to the emergency room. We want the strongest possible ozone standards to protect our children’s health and to advance environmental justice. All children, no matter where they live, deserve to breathe clean air. It is EPA’s duty to set air quality standards that protect even the littlest of lungs, and our current ozone standards are inadequate.
Once again, we strongly support the CASAC’s findings that the ozone NAAQS be strengthened to 55-60 ppb for the primary standard. Additionally, we ask that EPA move swiftly to propose revising the ozone NAAQS in order to finalize strong ozone standards no later than spring of 2024.
Sincerely,
Moms Clean Air Force