By: Elizabeth Brandt, National Field Manager, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: January 10, 2023
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Hello, and thank you for listening to my testimony today. My name is Elizabeth Brandt, mom to Natalia and Valencia. I live on the traditional lands of the Anacostan (Nacotchtank) and Piscataway peoples in the DC area. I am a National Field Manager for Moms Clean Air Force, an organization of more than one million parents across America who are taking action against air pollution and climate change. We are motivated by love for our children, and we are asking EPA to stand strong in protecting their health.
I support EPA’s updated rule to cut methane and other harmful pollutants from oil and gas operations across the country. This is an important step toward addressing the climate crisis and protecting the health and safety of children and families across the country.
Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, is a powerful greenhouse gas pollutant that is fueling the climate crisis. Methane is responsible for 25% of the man-made global warming we are experiencing today. The oil and gas industry is one of the nation’s largest sources of industrial methane pollution. Quickly and significantly reducing methane pollution is one of the best tools we have to slow the rate of climate change now and clean up the air to protect children’s health.
In Maryland, where I live, we’re already experiencing the intensifying storms and increased flooding that are a result of climate change. Our urban areas are suffering from extreme heat as 90 degree days occur with increasing regularity. Our coastal communities are low lying, and high tides and are becoming a frightening prospect as sea levels rise. Across America Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, and many are already experiencing severe weather events like heavy rainfall, flooding, dangerous storms, droughts and heat waves. To do our part to slow these climate impacts, we simply must cut methane emissions.
Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities are also disproportionately exposed to dirty air, including harmful pollution from oil and gas operations, because of where they live, learn, work, and play. Oil and gas air pollution adds to the burden of existing pollution problems in underserved, low-income communities, exacerbating inequities and putting families at increased risk of serious health issues. Climate change and air pollution poses a particular threat to children, older adults and pregnant women. As a social worker, and a human being, I find this to be unacceptable. The EPA must do all it can to wipe out disproportionate impacts experienced by environmental justice communities.
Hundreds of thousands of low-producing wells across the country generate just a trickle of usable oil or gas but are an outsized source of methane pollution. It is good to see EPA closing the loopholes and requiring frequent inspections of all wells in the final rule. Some oil and gas companies routinely burn gas as a waste product instead of capturing and selling it. Flaring emits air pollutants that impact the health of nearby communities and contributes to climate change. EPA needs to eliminate pollution from routine flaring at oil and gas sites in the final rule.
I implore the administration to boldly lead on methane reductions: America’s children are counting on the EPA to preserve a healthy climate for generations to come.
English
Spanish