By: Sarah McBride, Senior Communications Specialist, 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
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 because I strongly oppose EPA’s proposal to roll back the Carbon Rule. For the sake of our health, please finalize a rule that preserves strong climate pollution standards for power plants.
Power plants are responsible for roughly a quarter of the climate pollution in the US, meaning that cutting pollution from these sources could help us make significant strides in tackling global warming.
Where I live in Florida, there are neighborhoods that are only 2 feet above sea level. St. Petersburg is a peninsular city that is surrounded by water, making it extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change-driven sea-level rise.
This worries me a lot. Floods can be extremely dangerous. The peak of a flooding event is dangerous, but so is the aftermath, which can include water-borne illness, contaminated drinking water, and increased risk of respiratory diseases due to mold. Research shows that flooding events have a significant impact on the health of children and pregnant women. Experiencing a climate-related crisis, or even just living with the threat of one, can lead to stress, trauma, and anxiety.
When choosing an apartment, I opted to pay extra for a unit on an upper level because I was warned that lower-level apartments could flood during a hurricane. I’m lucky to have the resources to choose a less flood-prone place to live—many don’t get this choice.
When Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit St. Petersburg last fall, the results were devastating. People’s houses were filled with water and sand and several people I know lost their homes. One family decided to repair their home, and only just got to move back this May—about 8 months later. Scientists say that both hurricanes were made worse by human-caused climate change, which is driven by the type of pollution that this rule addresses.
Some parts of St. Petersburg flood even during a normal summer rainstorm now. Last summer, I had two scary experiences when the roads flooded while I was driving through a typical afternoon storm and I had to just pull over and pray the rain stopped before the water reached my engine. According to the Pinellas County website, climate change is part of the problem here—it's changing rainfall patterns and shifting frequency and intensity of these rainstorms, disrupting our stormwater systems.
The last United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report made clear that the window to prevent the worst impacts of global warming is rapidly closing. I’m not interested in finding out what these “worst impacts” are, which is why I’m here today to ask that EPA stand up for public health and public safety by keeping strong climate pollution protections in place. Do not roll back the Carbon Rule.
Thank you for this opportunity to testify.