By: Kindra Weid, Electric School Bus Outreach Coordinator
Date: October 1, 2026
About: Docket # EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0124-2920
To: EPA
My name is Kindra Weid from southeast Michigan. I am a critical care registered nurse and am advocating on behalf of Moms Clean Air Force, my patients, and future generations. I am testifying in direct opposition to EPA’s proposal to rescind the greenhouse gas finding for the power sector.
Fossil-fueled power plants are responsible for approximately one-quarter of the climate pollution generated by the US. I supported the Power Plants Carbon Rule in 2024, because it protected public health and the environment by addressing climate pollution from new gas-burning and existing coal-burning power plants. Gutting EPA’s authority and responsibility to limit climate pollution from the power sector is the wrong move. It will cause worsening air quality and do nothing to limit climate warming emissions- both of which cause health harms.
Limiting pollution from fossil fueled power plants can provide cleaner air, a safer, more stable climate, and protect public health. According to new analysis from the Environmental Defense Fund, repeal of the power plant standards would result in the following additional health impacts by 2047:
- 51,000 – 84,000 premature deaths
- 105,000 hospital and ER visits
- 29 million asthma attacks
- 13 million lost work and school days
The body of research linking negative public health outcomes to air pollution and climate change is comprehensive and conclusive. Despite this well-established research, we continue to witness partisan attacks on climate protections. Science should guide this rule-making- not the interests of the fossil fuel industry. How do you put a price on a lifelong struggle for breath, a missed day of school, a town torn apart by floods? There are estimates of these impacts, but this agency chooses to ignore that science.
Climate change threatens our health and well-being in numerous ways. We are seeing more severe heat waves, droughts, storms, floods, wildfires, and exacerbated air pollution. Amidst this chaos, Trump/Zeldin’s EPA is failing us.
This past summer was the hottest on record, and we saw extremely unhealthy air across the country because of wildfire smoke. In the hospital, this showed up in the form of exacerbations of chronic heart and lung conditions, heat exhaustion and stroke, and increasing rates of vector-borne diseases, to name just a few. The prevalence of hospitalized Lyme disease cases in Michigan superseded any previous year in my 26-year career. These are the DIRECT health outcomes related to climate and air pollution- fueled, in part, by emissions from power plants.
Gutting EPA’s authority to limit climate pollution does not align with their mission to protect human health and the environment. Time is too precious to waste- actual lives are at stake, and we have a moral obligation to act.