Sierra Rise: EPA wants to lower air quality to help corporate polluters

Climate, Corruption, Crony Capitalism, Health, News, Social Equity / May 16, 2019
Tony Cox, friend of corporate polluters appointed by Trump administration to finish destroying the environment for profit. Trump Administration “draining the swamp”?

SWAMP WATCH: “One out of every 25 premature deaths in the United States occurs because of outdoor air pollution. That’s more deaths than transportation accidents and gun violence combined — and that death toll will get even higher if the Trump administration adds more soot to the air we breathe.2″

Trump’s EPA is pushing to lower air quality standards. This could put millions of Americans at serious risk of sickness or even death. Demand that the EPA protect our health, not polluters.
TAKE ACTION

Tony Cox, a Trump appointee who runs the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) has a swampy past. His resume includes consulting for the American Petroleum Institute, the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, the mining industry, and a tobacco company.

Under Cox’s “leadership,” CASAC is considering lowering national air quality standards for fine particulate matter air pollution, also known as soot. Cox suggested that the scientific evidence showing grave harm from air pollution were “subjective judgments” and “unverifiable opinions.”1

Facts do NOT support these claims.

One out of every 25 premature deaths in the United States occurs because of outdoor air pollution. That’s more deaths than transportation accidents and gun violence combined — and that death toll will get even higher if the Trump administration adds more soot to the air we breathe.2

Air quality standards literally mean life or death for people across the nation, especially those living in cities. Tell the EPA to protect our health!
Speak up to protect our health
“Industries hire Cox to sow doubt about the scientific evidence, to make the case that agencies don’t have any proof,” said Celeste Monforton, a worker safety advocate who worked at the Department of Labor.3

Cox is just another industry insider using his position to fight for big polluters, rather than people. Make sure our EPA puts us first.

Particulate matter pollution is threatening the lives of families and individuals across the nation, and causes the most harm to our most vulnerable, like children and seniors. And study after study shows that air pollution disproportionately harms communities of color, who are more likely to reside in polluted neighborhoods.4

EPA must review air quality standards every five years. The deadline was 2022, but, before leaving his position in disgrace, former EPA Administrator Scott Pruit pushed to have the agency complete its review by December 2020. To meet this deadline, they’ll have to shorten their normal review process.

The science shows that, if anything, our current regulations are too loose and we need MORE safeguards to protect public health from air pollution.5 The fossil fuel and other industries, however, are attempting to manipulate the review to let big polluters off the hook.

Don’t let them get away with it. Speak up to stop Trump’s EPA from putting millions of lives at risk!

In it together,
The SierraRise Team