By: Sarah McBride, Senior Communications Specialist, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: July 10, 2025
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0794-6978
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Sarah McBride. I am the Senior Communications Specialist for Moms Clean Air Force, and I live in St. Petersburg, Florida. I am testifying today to strongly oppose EPA’s proposal to repeal recent updates to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, also known as MATS.
I grew up in Falmouth, Massachusetts, a small town on Cape Cod. Falmouth is a major destination for outdoor recreation—namely, fishing. Growing up, I remember learning about the dangers of mercury in canned tuna, but I never thought of it as an issue in the freshwater fish swimming in the kettle ponds around my home. That’s largely because it just wasn’t talked about. Many of these ponds are surrounded by woods and don’t look like what I thought of as a polluted body of water.
But the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has issued fish advisories for the ponds I grew up swimming in due to high concentrations of mercury in the fish. Over the years, I’ve seen countless people fishing in these ponds, with coolers by their side, and I never once saw a posted advisory warning people not to eat the fish. I wonder how many people ate contaminated catch, unknowingly exposing themselves and their families to mercury.
We know that there is no safe level of mercury consumption, so any level of exposure carries potential risk. Mercury exposure can increase the risk of heart attacks and it’s a potent neurotoxin that can cause permanent damage to the brains of babies. It’s heartbreaking to think that a family’s fishing trip could have profound, long-lasting impacts on their health.
One of the important tools we have to protect our families from mercury is to limit pollution from coal-fired power plants, which release mercury into the air that eventually falls into waterways and accumulates in the fish that we eat. We know that mercury protections have had significant public health benefits. These protections work! Since MATS was implemented, mercury emissions are down 86%, and other toxic air emissions have been significantly reduced as well.
Last year’s updates to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards represent the rule’s first modernization in over a decade. While MATS has been highly successful in reducing mercury pollution, more work was left to be done to protect families from mercury and other dangerous pollution from coal plants. Specifically, the recent updates close a loophole that allowed dirty lignite coal plants to evade important mercury pollution controls. These updates will also help reduce children’s exposure to other heavy metals addressed by MATS, including arsenic and lead, and require coal plants to continuously address their emissions, holding them accountable for the pollution that is actually going into communities.
If the recent updates to MATS are compromised, public health will be in jeopardy too—and our families are on the line.
So I’m here today to ask you to please stand up for healthy kids. Keep the recent updates to MATS in place and reject proposals to weaken them.
Thank you for your time and consideration.