By: Elizabeth Bechard, Public Health Manager
Date: October 1, 2026
About: Docket # EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0124-2920
To: EPA
My name is Elizabeth Bechard, and I am the Public Health Manager for Moms Clean Air Force. I live in Vermont with my husband and two children, one of whom has complex medical needs. I’m here today to strongly oppose EPA’s proposal to repeal the greenhouse gas finding for power plants and ask the agency not to abandon its mission and responsibility to protect human health and the environment.
There is overwhelming scientific consensus that greenhouse gas pollution is driving global heating and escalating climate disruption. This disruption is directly endangering human health and welfare, both in the United States and around the world. And the power sector, which accounts for a quarter of our country’s greenhouse gas pollution, plays a major role in amplifying the harms of climate change.
Hotter temperatures are driving increasing heat-related illnesses and deaths. This past summer was the hottest on record, and possibly one of the coolest summers our children will ever remember. Storms and flooding intensified by climate change are causing unprecedented damage to communities around the country, destroying homes, businesses, and lives. Just over two years after Hurricane Helene, which devastated my home state of North Carolina, I still can’t get images of families trapped on roofs as floodwaters rose out of my head.
Wildfires exacerbated by changing climate patterns are dramatically worsening air quality across the country, increasing the number of days when it’s hazardous simply to breathe. Every fraction of a degree of climate heating that we don’t prevent will amplify these harms for our children, future generations, and our older selves. We will feel these impacts intensify within our own lifetimes. We are feeling these impacts now.
As the mother of a child with complex medical needs that are greatly impacted by environmental factors like heat, wildfire smoke, and rising rates of tickborne illnesses, it is gutting to know that this EPA has essentially given up on children like mine—and all children. All babies and children are uniquely vulnerable to climate risks. It’s absurd that those at EPA who are attacking our climate protections are willing to look away from the enormous threat of climate change and say: too bad, not our problem. This proposal to rescind the greenhouse gas finding for power plants is an abdication of responsibility that will inflict physical, mental, and economic harm on generations to come. It’s a hollow, morally bankrupt decision to curry favor with the fossil fuel industry at the expense of the living world.
I cannot imagine teaching my children that it’s ok to pass the blame for a collective problem onto someone else simply because it’s inconvenient to help. I cannot imagine teaching my children that just because we can’t solve a problem individually, we are free to ignore it as if our actions don’t matter. I cannot imagine teaching my children that it’s ok to trade clean air and a livable planet for bigger data centers and fossil fueled power plants that can pollute freely. None of this is ok.
Those at EPA who continue to attack environmental protections are failing our children, our communities, and our future. EPA must withdraw this dangerous proposal and recommit to its mission to protect human health and the environment. Thank you.