By: Tracy Sabetta, Ohio Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: January 8, 2025
About: NOx New Source Performance Standards, Docket # EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0419
To: EPA
Good afternoon and thank you so much for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Tracy Sabetta, and I am a field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force. I am from Pickerington, Ohio, just outside Columbus. On behalf of Moms Clean Air Force, I am here to ask that EPA go further in strengthening protections in the final version of the proposed NOx rule.
As you know, pollution from gas-fired power plants has been linked to a wide range of health harms, and it’s critical that emissions standards for new power plants are as strong as possible to protect the health of our families and our communities. Gas-fired power plants emit nitrogen oxides (NOx), a dangerous form of pollution that has been linked to airway inflammation, asthma attacks, and increased hospital stays for respiratory illness. NOx is also a precursor pollutant, contributing to the formation of ozone and particle pollution.
Ohio is no stranger to the impacts of ozone and particle pollution. The 2024 American Lung Association State of the Air Report assigns grades to Ohio counties for particle and ozone pollution, as well as reporting the number of children and adults with asthma per county. The 2024 report found that eight of Ohio’s 10 most populated counties received grades of either D or F for ozone pollution, and there are currently 174,500 Ohio children fighting asthma. Ozone has been linked to coughing, shortness of breath, heart failure and low birth weight. Ground-level ozone is a substantial burden on our health care system and has been associated with increased emergency visits.
For the first time in my life, I found myself needing to be vigilant about exposure to air pollution in 2024. In September, a trip to the emergency room uncovered a significant blood clot in my right lung. The pulmonary embolism had reduced my lung capacity by more than 70 percent and was causing atrial flutter. As a result, my heart rate was over 170 beats per minute for 36 hours, and I found myself in cardiac intensive care. After a number of procedures and medications, my recovery is right on track. However, I have been instructed to avoid exposure to air pollution that could put a strain on my damaged heart and lungs and prolong or negatively impact the recovery process.
While this was a new experience for me, it is not new for the thousands of children and parents who have to check air quality alerts every day, including the families who know what it's like to live near the pollution of gas-fired power plants. Their illness and quality of life issues could be eased through a steadfast commitment to revising air quality standards to reflect sound science and technology. You have the authority to do just that.
Moms Clean Air Force has been advocating for strong protections from power plant pollution for over a decade, and we know that we need to do everything within our power to protect the health of our families, including strengthening NOx protections. EPA, however, has not revised NOx standards for new gas-fired power plants since 2006, making updates to these protections critical and long overdue.
We appreciate EPA’s efforts, and we know that gas power plants are capable of achieving greater reductions in pollution with the same technologies proposed in the rule. We believe our families and communities are worth it, and they deserve more. They deserve the strongest protection possible from health-harming pollution. On behalf of the more than 90,000 members of Moms Clean Air Force in Ohio, we ask EPA to strengthen NOx protections in the final version of the rule.