By: Ashley Hillard, North Carolina Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: July 10, 2025
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2018–0794
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Ashley Hillard and I am the North Carolina Field Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force. There are over 76,000 members of Moms Clean Air Force in the state, and we are united against air pollution - and the urgent crisis of our changing climate - to equitably protect children’s health. I strongly oppose efforts to weaken the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, and ask EPA not to repeal the recent amendments to MATS.
For over a decade, Moms Clean Air Force has advocated for strong mercury protections. Mercury from coal-fired power plants is released into the air and falls into waterways, where it converts to the neurotoxin methylmercury and accumulates in fish that families eat. Mercury is especially dangerous for developing babies and children. After ingestion, mercury can cross the blood-brain and placental barriers, leading to toxic effects on fetal and infant brains. What we eat can jeopardize children’s health. It is frustrating to know that earlier this year with a simple email, polluters were able to ask for compliance exemptions for MATS—and across the country, many coal plants have already been granted exemptions that immediately put communities at risk of increased exposure to dangerous pollutants.
Duke Energy continues to operate five mercury-polluting coal-fired power plants in North Carolina. A fish consumption advisory StoryMap was recently released by the NC Environmental Public Health Tracking Division of Public Health, showing the impact of mercury on both the fish and people who consume them. This impact is evident, even with the current requirements for continuous emissions monitoring. By allowing companies like Duke Energy to request MATS exemptions, environmental pollution will increase and negatively impact air and water quality, reducing the availability of fish that is safe to consume. Communities in North Carolina and other states that rely on fishing as a primary food source, for cultural identity, or economic reasons, such as many Indigenous communities, may be disproportionately exposed to mercury pollution through their diet. Polluting food sources is not a good long-term plan, especially when better, cleaner energy sources are available.
This administration is encouraging Americans to have more children, and protecting women's and children’s health should also be prioritized. When pregnant women eat contaminated fish, mercury can cause long-term losses in IQ scores, impaired motor function, learning impairments, and behavioral problems in their children.
Added to the impacts of mercury are the health impacts of the toxic heavy metals associated with coal fired power plants such as lead, arsenic and chromium which are known to cause fatal heart attacks, cancer, and developmental delays in children. The recently finalized updates to MATS would help to reduce not only mercury from lignite coal plants, but also emissions of other dangerous air toxics.
For the health of communities, especially children, I oppose EPA’s proposal to repeal recent amendments to the Mercury and Air Toxics standards. Thank you for your time today.