• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Moms Clean Air Force

Fighting for Our Kids' Health

  • Take Action
    • Right Now
      • Sign a Petition
      • Register to Vote
      • Volunteer for Clean Air
      • Clean Air Action Guide
    • Attend an Event
      • Event Calendar
      • Forum on Maternal & Child Health in a Dangerous Climate
    • En Español
      • EcoMadres
    • Support Moms
      • Donate
  • What We Work On
    • Moms Priorities
      • EPA Work
      • Legislation We Support
      • Justice in Every Breath
      • Moms & Mayors
      • EcoMadres
    • Air Pollution
      • Cars and Trucks
      • Electric School Buses
      • Maternal Health
      • Mercury
      • Ozone Pollution
      • Soot Pollution
    • Climate Change
      • Carbon Pollution
      • Clean Energy
      • Extreme Weather
      • Mental Health
      • Methane
    • Plastics and Petrochemicals
      • “Advanced Recycling”
      • Petrochemical Pollution
      • Waste Incineration
    • Toxic Chemicals
      • Chemical Safety
      • Schools and Playgrounds
      • Vinyl Chloride
  • Where We Work
    • State Chapters
      • Arizona
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Florida
      • Georgia
      • Illinois
      • Iowa
      • Louisiana
      • Maryland
      • Michigan
      • Montana
      • Nevada
      • New Hampshire
      • New Jersey
      • New Mexico
      • New York
      • North Carolina
      • Ohio
      • Pennsylvania
      • Tennessee
      • Texas
      • Virginia
      • Washington
      • Washington, DC
      • West Virginia
      • Wisconsin
  • Who We Are
    • Mission

      We are a community of over 1.5 million parents united against air and climate pollution to protect our children’s health.

      • Learn More
    • Our Team
      • National Team
      • Field Organizers
      • Job Openings
    • Learn More
      • Our Mission
      • Legislation We Support
      • Notable Achievements
      • 2024 Annual Report
      • Newsletter Archive
    • Programs
      • EcoMadres
      • Community Health Justice
      • Indigenous Communities
    • Get in Touch
      • Contact Us
      • Media Inquiries
  • Articles
    • All Articles
      • Topics
        • Plastics and Petrochemicals
        • Mom Detective
        • Air Pollution
        • Climate Change
        • Toxic Chemicals
    • Mental Health and Climate Change: Maintaining Well-Being When Pollution Protections Are Under Attack
      #MomsSummerofAction: Tell EPA to Keep Their Hands Off Climate Pollution Limits for Power Plants
      Moms’ Stephanie Reese on Juneteenth and EPA in The New Lede
      The Big Brutal Bill Puts Our Children’s Health in Jeopardy
  • Resources
  • Press
    • Media Contact

      For all urgent press inquiries, please contact DKC News

      • MomsCleanAirForce@dkcnews.com
    • Moms in the Media
      • Press Releases
      • News Stories
      • Moms Make News Archives
  • Donate

FacebookTwitterinstagram

  • Take Action
  • Join the Force
  • Donate
Resource Library / Air Pollution

Testimony: Trisha DelloIacono, 2020 EPA Ozone Hearing

Testimony

email Email Linkfacebook Share on Facebooktwitter Share on X

By: Trisha DelloIacono, National Field Manager, Moms Clean Air Force

Date: September 1, 2020

About: Environmental Protection Agency Review of NAAQS for Ozone Docket ID No. EPA-HQOAR-2018-0279

To: Environmental Protection Agency

Good morning. My name is Trisha DelloIacono. I am the National Field Manager for Moms Clean Air Force, an organization of over 1 million moms and dads from across the country who are fighting to protect our children’s health and safety from air pollution and climate change. I am also the mother to 4 young children. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments today.

I live with my family in southern New Jersey, and we spend a lot of time visiting family, traveling between New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island often. In the Northeast, many areas, including the Philadelphia-Camden metro area, New York City, and the Boston-Rhode Island area all receive an F for ozone pollution and are among the 25 most polluted cities listed in the American Lung Association’s State of the Air Report. Ozone pollution is harmful to our health and the developing lungs of infants and children. It is a powerful lung irritant and exacerbates asthma. Science tells us that the current EPA ozone standard is not protective enough and puts our health and safety at risk. As a mom and National Field Manager for an organization that fights to protect our kids' health from harmful air pollution, this is not acceptable, and I am urging the EPA to follow the science and strengthen the ozone pollution standard.

Coronavirus has drastically changed my family’s life and the lives of so many Americans, and this is especially so for my friends and our Moms Clean Air Force members from across the country whose children suffer from asthma or other upper respiratory diseases and live in areas with elevated levels of ozone pollution. Ozone or smog pollution is harmful to our health, and it is often described as sunburn on the lungs. It exacerbates asthma symptoms, respiratory infections, and causes coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. COVID-19 attacks the lungs, and we are learning that anyone with underlying health conditions, such as asthma, is more vulnerable to health impacts from the coronavirus. For anyone who struggles with unhealthy levels of ozone pollution in areas where they live, coronavirus is especially worrisome.

We also know that the coronavirus disproportionately impacts environmental justice communities and communities of color. Refusing to strengthen the national standard for ozone pollution is also a major setback for environmental justice. Not only are African Americans exposed to higher levels of ozone pollution, but they are more likely to become sicker as a result. By retaining the current, too-weak standards, EPA is prolonging these ingrained health disparities.

Moms Clean Air Force members are passionate about speaking up to protect their communities and families from air pollution. Even as many of us are struggling with home schooling, working from home, and ensuring that our families are staying afloat during this stressful time, our mothers are showing up and speaking out because we know that clean air is vital to ensure our health and safety during this frightening time. This is why we have more than 50 members from across the country scheduled to testify at this hearing, speaking out in opposition to the proposed rule. Moms Clean Air Force and our more than 1 million members are urging the EPA to protect the health of our families by strengthening the standards for ozone pollution.

The EPA should be taking bold action to ensure our health and safety are protected, especially during a global public health pandemic. However, Andrew Wheeler is doing the exact opposite and moving forward with sweeping actions that are unraveling lifesaving pollution protections. Instead of proposing to retain our current standards—standards that science has shown are inadequate to fully protect our children, our elders, and those with underlying health conditions—EPA should be moving forward with a proposal that is protecting American families and looking at ways to lower pollution levels in every aspect of their capacities.

On behalf of our more than 1 million members of Moms Clean Air Force, I implore you to protect public health and strengthen our national ozone pollution standards. At a time when our families are grappling with a global pandemic that attacks our lungs, we need to know that this administration is taking bold action that protects our health and safety—not makes it worse.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

Take Action on this Issue

Join the force and stay updated on opportunities to take action:

Donate

Footer

Moms Clean Air Force ®

We are a community of 1.5 million moms and dads united against air pollution – including the urgent crisis of our changing climate – to protect our children’s health.

Areas of Focus

  • Air Pollution
  • Climate Change
  • Toxic Chemicals

FacebookTwitterinstagram

© 2025 Moms Clean Air Force
All rights reserved

Privacy Policy