By: Laurie Anderson, Colorado State Coordinator, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: February 23, 2023
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0072
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Hi! My name is Laurie Anderson, and I am a field organizer with Moms Clean Air Force. I live in Broomfield, Colorado. Thank you for this opportunity to share with you today.
I am a mom of five kids. We live about a half mile from a large-scale oil and gas development site, and I am concerned about the air we breathe.
I urge the EPA to set a more protective standard for soot of 8 micrograms/cubic meter for the annual standard and 25 micrograms/cubic meter for the daily standard. Stronger standards are key to protecting the health of our children and communities, and it is urgent that we act now.
We now know what we can’t see can hurt us. It’s hard to imagine that this tiny particulate matter can penetrate our lungs and bloodstream, causing devastating health impacts. Yet it’s the reality we face living near industrial operations and highly traveled roadways. Families and communities living in heavily polluted areas deserve a strengthened daily soot standard to help address the health harms of short term pollution spikes.
Colorado is a state that is full of outdoor adventure with our majestic mountains and year round sunshine from climbing the Flatirons to downhill skiing. However, these outdoor adventures can be hazardous to our health on poor air quality days.
In addition to particulate matter pollution from industrial operations, Colorado must also deal with the reality of pollution we cannot control like raging summer wildfires, and even wildfires in the dead of winter. Our wildfire season has only grown worse over the past few years and with it comes wildfire smoke that can blanket our communities for days or even weeks.
Knowing that wildfire smoke is a reality for our communities across Colorado and the rest of the western states, it is just all the more critical that we reduce pollution sources that we can control.
As a Mom, it is difficult to watch my daughter deal with asthma, and also contend with the reality that some diseases that are caused by soot pollution form overtime and are only discovered when it is too late.
For families like mine living near high polluting industrial operations, we need to know that the EPA has strong regulations in place that truly protect the health of our families.
Once again, I am urging EPA to set a more protective standard for soot of 8 micrograms per cubic meter for the annual standard and 25 micrograms per cubic meter for the daily standard. Please protect our health by finalizing this standard as soon as possible. Thank you for your time.