As a parent, I'm writing today to urge you to join parents across the country in calling for EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler's removal from office.
I have been outraged by Wheeler's actions. They're terrible under any circumstance. But now, while the country battles Covid-19, they are indecent. The EPA has continued weakening regulations that protect us from air pollution.
Lawmakers cannot ignore Wheeler's violation of EPA's mission. He must be held accountable.
With new research showing that breathing polluted air actually increases your risk of succumbing to the worst ravages of Covid-19, these regulatory rollbacks have never been so dangerous.
During a global respiratory pandemic, Wheeler has:
* Gutted tailpipe pollution standards, which will increase air pollution in our communities, force drivers to spend more at the pump, and exacerbate the ongoing climate crisis
* Granted a pollution waiver for industry, giving polluters a green light to pollute during the coronavirus pandemic
* Proposed too-weak standards for fine particle pollution, ignoring the considerable science linking even low levels of this type of pollution to lung infections, heart attacks, and early death
* Moved to censor the types of scientific research that EPA can consider when setting pollution standards
* And continued his campaign to weaken protections from toxic mercury emissions, which come from coal fired power plants and are particularly harmful to babies.
This is all unacceptable from the head of an agency tasked with protecting our communities, our families, and our children. Any EPA Administrator who fights to cut protections from pollution is not doing their job, and putting us in harm's way. Please immediately call for Administrator Wheeler's removal from office.
