By: Lorna Perez, Florida Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: July 8, 2025
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0124-0001
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Hello. My name is Lorna Perez, and I’m the Florida Field Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force. We represent over 186,000 moms, dads and caregivers across Florida united against the intersecting threats of air pollution and climate change.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. On behalf of our members, I’m here to urge you to protect the Carbon Rule, which serves as a vital safeguard against climate pollution from power plants—pollution that endangers our health and fuels climate disasters.
As the Sunshine State, we know a thing or two about heat and hurricanes. But both are getting worse. Year after year, Florida experiences record-breaking heat and more intense storms driven by the carbon pollution that is warming our planet and supercharging extreme weather.
These climate impacts aren’t just about the environment—they're about our health, our economy, and our ability to live safely and affordably in our own communities. In Florida, the health consequences are always severe: heat stroke, asthma attacks, mental health challenges, adverse birth outcomes, and the spread of disease and mold after flooding. These burdens fall hardest on our most vulnerable, especially our children. Their growing bodies are more susceptible to pollution and extreme heat. And in humid, hot weather—common in Florida—kids with asthma struggle even more to breathe.
I live in the Tampa Bay area, where over 39,000 children have asthma, according to the American Lung Association. Repealing greenhouse gas standards for power plants would allow more pollution into the air they breathe. We should be strengthening, not weakening, protections that help reduce this pollution.
We saw the effects that Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton had on Florida last year, and we are still recovering. Some of my friends' houses were completely flooded, and they are still dealing with making sure that there is no hazardous mold because of this—mold can exacerbate asthma too. Thousands of dollars have been spent on ripping out damaged walls and rebuilding whole rooms of their houses, and it has already been eight months.
The economic toll is intense, especially in communities of color and lower income neighborhoods. Why should these families bear the brunt of climate disasters they did the least to cause? In Tampa Bay alone, more than 396,000 people are living in poverty.
When healthcare costs rise because of pollution and climate-fueled illness, it’s the people with the fewest resources who suffer most. Everyone, regardless of income, deserves a chance to live a healthy life and protection against climate pollution. These are not luxuries. They are human rights.
Protecting the carbon rule is not just about reducing emissions; it’s about pushing our country to transition to cleaner, more affordable energy that strengthens Florida’s independence and protects our families.
We at Moms Clean Air Force, in Florida and across the nation, strongly oppose EPA’s proposal to repeal the Carbon Rule. For the health of our children, the safety of our communities, and the promise of a better future, we urge you to keep these vital protections in place. Thank you.