• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Moms Clean Air Force

Fighting for Our Kids' Health

  • Take Action
    • Right Now
      • Sign a Petition
      • Register to Vote
      • Volunteer for Clean Air
      • Clean Air Action Guide
    • Attend an Event
      • Event Calendar
      • Forum on Maternal & Child Health in a Dangerous Climate
    • En Español
      • EcoMadres
    • Support Moms
      • Donate
  • What We Work On
    • Moms Priorities
      • EPA Work
      • Legislation We Support
      • Justice in Every Breath
      • Moms & Mayors
      • EcoMadres
    • Air Pollution
      • Cars and Trucks
      • Electric School Buses
      • Maternal Health
      • Mercury
      • Ozone Pollution
      • Soot Pollution
    • Climate Change
      • Carbon Pollution
      • Clean Energy
      • Extreme Weather
      • Mental Health
      • Methane
    • Plastics and Petrochemicals
      • “Advanced Recycling”
      • Petrochemical Pollution
      • Waste Incineration
    • Toxic Chemicals
      • Chemical Safety
      • Schools and Playgrounds
      • Vinyl Chloride
  • Where We Work
    • State Chapters
      • Arizona
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Florida
      • Georgia
      • Illinois
      • Iowa
      • Louisiana
      • Maryland
      • Michigan
      • Montana
      • Nevada
      • New Hampshire
      • New Jersey
      • New Mexico
      • New York
      • North Carolina
      • Ohio
      • Pennsylvania
      • Tennessee
      • Texas
      • Virginia
      • Washington
      • Washington, DC
      • West Virginia
      • Wisconsin
  • Who We Are
    • Mission

      We are a community of over 1.5 million parents united against air and climate pollution to protect our children’s health.

      • Learn More
    • Our Team
      • National Team
      • Field Organizers
      • Job Openings
    • Learn More
      • Our Mission
      • Legislation We Support
      • Notable Achievements
      • 2024 Annual Report
      • Newsletter Archive
    • Programs
      • EcoMadres
      • Community Health Justice
      • Indigenous Communities
    • Get in Touch
      • Contact Us
      • Media Inquiries
  • Articles
    • All Articles
      • Topics
        • Plastics and Petrochemicals
        • Mom Detective
        • Air Pollution
        • Climate Change
        • Toxic Chemicals
    • Cutting Air Pollution Standards Is a Surefire Way to Increase Cancer
      Boletín de EcoMadres: Enero - Mayo 2025
      EcoMadres Newsletter: January-May 2025
      Wisconsin Mom Leads the Charge for Healthier, Greener Schools
  • Resources
  • Press
    • Media Contact

      For all urgent press inquiries, please contact DKC News

      • MomsCleanAirForce@dkcnews.com
    • Moms in the Media
      • Press Releases
      • News Stories
      • Moms Make News Archives
  • Donate

FacebookTwitterinstagram

  • Take Action
  • Join the Force
  • Donate
Resource Library / Air Pollution / Mercury

Testimony: Julie Kimmel, EPA’s Proposed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for Power Plants, February 24, 2022

Testimony

email Email Linkfacebook Share on Facebooktwitter Share on X

By: Julie Kimmel, Project Manager for Member Cultivation, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: February 24, 2022
About: Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for Power Plants: Proposed Reaffirmation of the Appropriate and Necessary Finding, Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2018–0794
To: Environmental Protection Agency

My name is Julie Kimmel and I am a project manager at Moms Clean Air Force. As you’ve heard, we are a community of more than 1.3 million parents united against air and climate pollution to protect our children’s health. Thank you for the opportunity to testify this afternoon.

I support this administration’s proposal to reinstate the appropriate and necessary finding of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. And I’m counting on EPA to take further steps to strengthen this important rule.

I live in Reston, Virginia, with my husband and seven-year-old daughter. All three of us were born in Virginia; our parents were born in Virginia. Like so many Chesapeake Bay families, we celebrate with fish and seafood. Fish is an important part of our diet and our lives.

I grew up on trout and catfish and tuna. My husband on crab and shrimp and rockfish. Separately and then together, we built traditions around fish and seafood. We host an annual crab feast for our family and friends in the summer. We celebrate birthdays with raw oysters. We plan elaborate meals around the week’s fresh catch when we’re down at the beach.

My daughter—who is one of the very few American seven-year-olds who refuses to eat hamburgers or pepperoni pizza or spaghetti or mac and cheese—has gobbled up every type of fish we’ve ever put in front of her. She can’t get enough.
Of course, we don’t offer fish to our little girl as often as she might like, and we limit our own consumption too. Because we know most mercury exposure happens through the consumption of fish. Our fish habits and traditions put my family at risk of experiencing health impacts from mercury. Health impacts like cancer, lung disease, cardiovascular problems, and in children, brain damage.

Mercury is especially dangerous for developing babies and children. It can cross the blood-brain and placental barriers after ingestion, leading to toxic effects on fetal and infant brains. When pregnant women eat contaminated fish, mercury can cause impaired motor function, learning impairments, and behavioral problems in their children.

A strong mercury rule is vital for protecting our families and our communities from this harmful pollution. Over the last 10 years, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards have helped slash mercury pollution by more than 80%. But coal-fired power plants continue to emit dangerous quantities of hazardous air pollution, and they continue to be the largest source of mercury pollution in the United States. This tells me the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards must be strengthened.

While my family eats a lot of fish (more than the average family, I’ve learned), we are not among the most impacted by mercury pollution. Indigenous communities and subsistence fishing communities that rely on fishing as a primary food source—for cultural identity or for economic reasons—can be disproportionately exposed to mercury pollution through their diet.

These communities, many of which are disproportionately impacted by all manner of air pollution too, should not have to bear the additional burden of mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants. Their children, their livelihoods, their air and water should be protected.

So as a parent, I’m urging you to finalize this proposal to reinstate the appropriate and necessary finding of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. And then, please move forward with strengthening the mercury rule to help protect all families and communities from this harmful pollution. Thank you.

Take Action on this Issue

Join the force and stay updated on opportunities to take action:

Donate

Footer

Moms Clean Air Force

We are a community of 1.5 million moms and dads united against air pollution – including the urgent crisis of our changing climate – to protect our children’s health.

Areas of Focus

  • Air Pollution
  • Climate Change
  • Toxic Chemicals

FacebookTwitterinstagram

© 2025 Moms Clean Air Force
All rights reserved

Privacy Policy