By: Ashley Hillard, North Carolina Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: August 19, 2025
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Ashley Hillard, and I’m the North Carolina field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force and on behalf of the over 76,000 members of the North Carolina chapter of our organization I ask that the EPA NOT rescind the Endangerment Finding or our vital Clean Cars and Clean Trucks protections.
The Endangerment Finding is foundational to the EPA’s ability to protect us from the emissions that contribute to the climate crisis. Through my work, I often hear from concerned parents who have children with asthma, cystic fibrosis, and other health issues related to the need for good air quality. Similarly, my family and I deal with health issues ranging from severe allergies to COPD. Climate change makes air quality worse in a number of ways: hotter days contribute to the formation of smog, which is harmful for little lungs to breathe. Global warming is also creating hotter, drier conditions that are favorable for intense wildfires and longer wildfire seasons, which emit dangerous smoke that can travel hundreds of miles away from its source. Children’s health – public health – must be a priority.
North Carolina is still dealing with the devastation of Hurricane Helene, the deadliest mainland U.S. hurricane since Hurricane Katrina. Helene destroyed homes, businesses, and lives. A study from the World Weather Attribution Group found that:
- Rainfall associated with Helene was about 10 percent heavier due to climate change.
- If the world continues to burn fossil fuels, causing global warming to reach 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, devastating rainfall events like those experienced with Helene will become another 15 to 25 percent more likely.
And we currently have Hurricane Erin expected to impact the Outer Banks. I moved to North Carolina from California, where wildfires devastate areas in the state year after year – polluting the environment, leaving people without homes, and costing more and more money to repair the damage, with the recent Los Angeles fires causing an estimated economic loss of $250 billion. We need agencies like the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases from sources like transportation, power plants, and the oil and gas industries that fuel more and more weather disasters.
The science is clear. The Endangerment Finding is essential to protecting people’s health and the health of the planet. We all live here, we will all be affected by climate change. Again, I ask EPA not to rescind the Endangerment Finding. Future generations are counting on you.
Thank you.