By: Molly Rauch, Public Health Policy Director, 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
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Molly Rauch, and I am Public Health Policy Director for Moms Clean Air Force. I have three children, and I live in Washington, DC.
Moms Clean Air Force is a community of over 1 million moms and dads united in the fight against air pollution and climate change for the sake of children’s health. Mercury standards have been a top priority for Moms Clean Air Force since our organization was founded in 2011. We strongly support the proposal under discussion today. Yes, it is appropriate and necessary to our families’ health and well-being for your agency to protect communities from mercury and other harmful air toxics that come from coal-fired power plants.
I remember during each of my three pregnancies being advised to limit my fish consumption. I didn’t think too much of it. I wanted to protect my babies, and so I monitored my diet to ensure I wasn’t harming them. I didn’t understand the connection between the mercury in my tunafish and coal-fired power plants until later. I was troubled to realize that the electricity I took for granted was threatening the brain development of my children. I also learned that it didn’t have to be this way; there were ways to take the mercury out of the smokestack. That’s why thousands upon thousands of moms just like me fought for mercury protections a decade ago, and we are still fighting to clean up the air for our babies, our children, and our communities.
Today you will hear from dozens of our moms and dads, from more than 15 states, about why mercury protections matter. You will hear stories from Massachusetts to Montana; from North Carolina to Nevada; from Maryland to Michigan and beyond. We care about mercury because it harms our babies’ brains even in tiny amounts. Exposure in utero can cause lifelong neurodevelopmental deficits. As parents, we simply cannot accept that mercury from smokestacks is allowed to get into our waterways, where it gets ingested by fish, and then by us. Then it’s inside our bodies, and that’s where the brains and the hearts of our babies are formed and develop.
The truth is that you would have heard many more stories from our Moms and so many others across the country, but this hearing was noticed with an extremely short registration window of just nine days. Moreover, when the slots filled up, EPA declined to open up parallel or additional sessions to fill the demand. Many of our moms were turned away from today’s hearing. I urge you to do better in making space to listen to stakeholders about the importance of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and other vital air quality protections.
Moms recognize and appreciate that MATS have been successful at curtailing harmful pollution. Since MATS was implemented, mercury from power plants is down 86%. But more needs to be done. Some coal plants continue to spew large amounts of mercury into the air. Each year, more than 8,000 pounds of mercury comes out of power plants. The worst polluters are concentrated in North Dakota and Texas, with other large mercury sources coming from power plants in Appalachia and the Midwest. This is a problem for all of our families, all across the country. This is a pollutant with no known safe level of exposure.
Air pollution is disproportionately distributed, with low-income communities and communities of color bearing the heaviest burden. Communities that rely on fishing as a primary food source, for cultural identity, or for economic reasons, such as many Indigenous communities, may be disproportionately exposed to mercury pollution through their diet. That is why it is essential for environmental justice not only that the legal foundation of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards be restored, but also that the standards themselves be strengthened.
Moms Clean Air Force supports the proposal to reinstate the appropriate and necessary finding of the MATS, and on behalf of our more than one million members, I urge you to go further, and strengthen the MATS standards, to better protect babies, children, pregnant moms, those already bearing a heavy burden of pollution, and all families from the health harms of mercury and air toxics.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.