By: Candi Hurst, West Virginia Supermom, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: July 10, 2025
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0794-6978
To: Environmental Protection Agency
My name is Candi Hurst and I’m the West Virginia Field Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force. I’m a mom of four children, living in Hedgesville, West Virginia. As a lifelong resident of the state, I’m deeply concerned by the threat of harmful air pollution that continues to be exacerbated in our area. Pollution from power plants stands to place our residents at greater and greater risk. I’m urging you to defend recent updates to the Mercury and Air Toxins Standards (MATS) to help address this threat to the wellbeing of not only our residents, but the residents of the nation at large.
Without safety protections in place, coal burning plants emit mercury and other toxic air pollutants into the air we breathe. As that air reaches water, it is converted into methylmercury, which contaminates the fish we eat. We know that there is no safe level of mercury. Rather, mercury is a dangerous and deadly neurotoxin that is especially harmful to unborn babies, newborns, and children. It can cause permanent damage to developing brains, resulting in learning disabilities, developmental delays, behavioral problems and birth defects. In adults it has also been linked to cardiovascular problems, including an increased risk of heart attacks.
When I was living in the mid-Ohio Valley and while a student in Morgantown, I lived near polluting plants. I saw communities that were already struggling disproportionately with health problems and economic burdens be exposed to toxins that would worsen or add to those problems. We know that several of those plants have now asked for and been granted exemptions from updated air pollution rules. This is particularly troublesome because residents of these counties are additionally exposed to air and water pollution because of petrochemical facilities in the area.
It makes my heart heavy to know the families living near these plants are not going to be afforded the protections that are their rights. Parents should be able to know with confidence that the air their children breathe and the water they play in is monitored and as clean as possible. They should be able to depend on their elected officials to keep them safe.
Upholding recent updates to the Mercury and Air Toxins Standards is a crucial step in providing this most basic obligation to our citizens. We know that mercury protections have had significant benefits. Since MATS was implemented, mercury emissions are down 86%, acid gas hazardous air pollutants have been cut by 96%, and non-mercury metal hazardous air pollutants have been reduced by 81%, according to EPA data.
Yet, there is more that needs to be done. Upholding these protections is the first step in doing that. Weakening these protections moves us in the wrong direction for ensuring the health of our children. Please uphold MATS.