By: Danielle Berkowitz-Sklar, National Field Events Coordinator, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: February 22, 2023
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0072
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Hello, thank you for the opportunity to share my comments with you today. My name is Danielle Berkowitz-Sklar, and I am the National Field Events Coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force, a community of over 1.5 million caregivers that have joined forces to protect the health and safety of children and youth by fighting air pollution and climate change.
I am here to call on the EPA to set a stronger, fairer, and more science-based standard for soot of 8 micrograms per cubic meter for the annual standard and no higher than 25 micrograms per cubic meter for the 24-hour standard, which is currently not being addressed in this rule.
I’m from California, where my family relocated after raising me and my four siblings in Costa Rica. At an early age, I lived in communities where I witnessed firsthand how the compounding effects of environmental degradation and social inequalities can exacerbate public health issues through vector-borne diseases, food insecurity, natural disasters, and something so incredibly fundamental like the air that we breathe.
Exposure to particle pollution is not a matter of choice for most people. It is up to the EPA to set regulations that take into account those whose human right to health, dignity and self-determination are often threatened most by the adverse effects of environmental policy, or policies that don’t go far enough.
The soot standards that are being suggested by the EPA do not fully align with the Biden administration's pledge to advance environmental justice.
While the rule is an improvement, by overlooking the 24-hour standard it neglects the real-life physical and emotional impacts of this deadly pollutant on real-life families and children, especially those living and working in the frontlines everyday.
Short-term spikes in air pollution and exposure to PM2.5, which is often associated with days of heavy traffic and factory emissions, can lead to sudden health issues like asthma attacks and hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, particularly on days when the air quality is poor.
The American Lung Association reports that approximately 63 million individuals in the United States are exposed to harmful spikes in daily soot pollution. Each year, at least 110,000 deaths in the US are attributed to soot pollution, with some estimates reaching as high as 350,000 deaths. People of color are 61% more likely to live in a county with unhealthy air quality and 6 times more likely to end up in the emergency room for air pollution-related asthma attacks than white people. As we know, low-wealth communities, children, the elderly, people who are pregnant, and those with underlying health problems are also especially at risk.
I joined Moms Clean Air Force as a recent college graduate last year and have been inspired by the people working tirelessly so that every child can breathe clean air. We are here to urge you to do the same.
Exposure to this deadly pollutant is not a choice, so we are depending on the EPA to save lives by finalizing this rule with the urgency the moment demands. Thank you so much for your work and for your time today.