By: Giovanna Rossi, New Mexico Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: March 4, 2024
About: EPA Good Neighbor Rule Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0402
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify this morning. My name is Giovanna Rossi, and I am a field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force in New Mexico, an organization of one and a half million moms and dads concerned about the impacts of climate change and air pollution on our children’s health. I am here today to support the Good Neighbor Plan and strongly recommend extending its ozone protections to cover more sources in more areas and requiring them to comply more quickly. EPA’s Good Neighbor Plan will protect residents in dozens of states who are unknowingly and unwillingly subjected to harmful air pollution from power plants and industrial facilities often hundreds of miles away.
I live with my husband and two children in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where our county has consistently received an F rating for ozone pollution, or smog, from the American Lung Association's “State of the Air” report. Nitrogen oxides are a direct threat to health and are highly reactive. Here in the Southwest, we are aware that when NOx and volatile organic compounds combine with heat and sunlight in the atmosphere, they can form ground-level ozone pollution, also known as smog. Smog is a lung irritant and asthma trigger. Smog exacerbates and is linked to a variety of serious lung and heart diseases as well as premature deaths. It is especially dangerous for children as their lungs are still developing, but also poses an increased risk to people with asthma, the elderly, and people who are active outdoors.
EPA’s Good Neighbor Plan is incredibly important for public health. The Good Neighbor Plan finalized in March of 2023 would reduce pollution from the power sector by 29% and the industry sector by 15% in covered states during the ozone season. The resulting reduction in smog pollution would have significant and immediate benefits for human health and welfare. By 2026, the rule is projected to annually prevent 1,300 premature deaths and more than 2,100 hospital emergency room visits for breathing problems. Now, EPA is proposing to extend the Good Neighbor Plan to cover 5 additional states, including my home state of New Mexico. A stronger Good Neighbor Plan means greater health benefits for New Mexicans and people in neighboring states. It means healthier air for our children.
As a parent, I do all I can to care for my children’s health, but we need the EPA to do their part and keep power plant and industrial pollution from their little lungs. Every child deserves to breathe clean air.
Thank you so much for your time.