By: Shaina Oliver, Colorado Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: August 19, 2025
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for taking my comments. I am Shaina Oliver a Field Organizer and Indigenous Peoples Rights Advocate with Moms Clean Air Force, an organization of more than 1.6 million moms, dads, and caretakers fighting for our children’s health and environmental well-being—and over 43,000 members in Colorado are looking to EPA’s leadership to protect their children. Moms Clean Air Force Colorado strongly opposes efforts to revoke the Endangerment Finding and critical limits on tailpipe pollution
I’m a mother of four, and we are enrolled members of the Navajo Nation residing in Denver, Colorado. Just five miles north from where we live sit multiple industrial polluters. And that pollution is warming our planet and affecting our air quality. According to the American Lung Association State of the Air report, Denver metro area ranks sixth worst in the nation for ozone-smog pollution, which is worsened by global warming because ozone forms when heat and sunlight combine with pollutants in the atmosphere.
Ozone-smog pollution harms lungs and contributes to asthma: according to CDC reports, over 500,000 Coloradoans—including myself and my youngest child—are affected by asthma. Our communities are the most vulnerable to missing school and workdays, leaving families with health care and funeral costs.
As a tribal member of the Navajo Nation, I grew up learning how my grandfather, along with other Navajo men and women, mined uranium without protective gear during a time when the EPA didn’t exist. My grandfather had many health problems before he prematurely died in his 70s, life expectancy for American Indian/Native American people used to be well into their 90s to 100s prior to exploitation of Indigenous lands. Due to exploitation of minerals and resources Colorado has seen an increase in extreme weather, drought, and wildfire events costing communities billions in damages each year. Without the Endangerment Finding and the Clean Cars and Clean Trucks rules, our communities across the United States will be put in harmful situations that will harm public health and further harm our children’s health.
As parents we are given the honor to protect our children. Right now, our children and the 74% of voters who think greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide should be regulated as air pollutants are counting on your leadership. On behalf of all our children, Moms Clean Air Force Colorado parents urge you today to protect our children’s right to a healthy, livable future—and protecting the Endangerment Finding is critical to protecting them.