By: Isabel Gonzalez-Whitaker, VP, Public Engagement, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: July 10, 2025
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2018–0794
To: Environmental Protection Agency
My name is Isabel Gonzalez Whitaker, and I work for Moms Clean Air Force and live in Memphis, TN., the asthma capital of the state due to significant industrial, power, and transportation pollution. My son suffered several terrifying asthma attacks this spring because of the poor air quality in Memphis. I am testifying to express my strong opposition to efforts to weaken protections to our air, namely the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. Rolling back the recent updates to these standards will increase pollution from significant sources – coal fired power plants -- and lead to more health problems for millions of people and families like mine.
Tennessee has four coal fired plants and their emissions impact air quality throughout the state because mercury and other harmful pollutants addressed by MATS travel through the air. There are many waterways whose fish are unsafe to eat due to exposure to this mercury. Mercury, regardless of exposure modality, is a powerful neurotoxin that is especially harmful to children and to babies in utero and leads to neurological and developmental disorders. The recent updates to MATS, finalized last year, would not only reduce children’s exposure to mercury—they would also help reduce children’s exposure to a range of dangerous pollutants addressed by MATS, including asthma-inducing particle pollution (PM2.5), smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hazardous air toxics like arsenic, lead, and chromium. Three coal power plants in my state—the Cumberland, Gallatin, and Kingston facilities— have already received presidential compliance exemptions for MATS, putting nearby communities at immediate risk of harm.
Cities like Memphis are already overburdened with toxic pollution. Undoing the recent updates to MATS will only add to the risks communities like mine live with.