Administrator Zeldin Is Dismantling Clean Air Protections. Congress Must Act Now
- by: Moms Clean Air Force
- recipient: EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin
As the year ends, it's clear that Administrator Lee Zeldin has taken EPA in a dangerous direction. In just twelve months, he has repeatedly rolled back clean air and climate protections, siding with big polluters instead of protecting people's health. These decisions will have harmful and expensive consequences: more pollution in our air and water, higher medical costs, rising energy bills, and increased risks to our children's well-being. At a time when families are already feeling the affordability crisis, Zeldin is making it worse.
Administrator Zeldin has abandoned EPA's core mission, unleashing an aggressive campaign to let polluters get away with more pollution, which means more mercury from coal plants, more deadly soot in the air, more toxic chemicals in household products, and more climate-warming pollution from vehicles, petrochemical plants, and AI data centers. These choices don't protect American families. They protect big polluters and wealthy industry insiders.
For decades, EPA safeguards have reduced pollution while our economy has grown. We know it's possible to have clean air and a strong economy. But Zeldin's leadership puts both at risk.
Moms Clean Air Force and our members have fought every rollback, but enough is enough. Congress must step in. Administrator Zeldin must be held accountable for corrupting EPA's mission and putting children's health at risk.
Tell Congress: It's time for new leadership at EPA. Zeldin must go.
Administrator Zeldin has abandoned EPA's core mission, unleashing an aggressive campaign to let polluters get away with more pollution, which means more mercury from coal plants, more deadly soot in the air, more toxic chemicals in household products, and more climate-warming pollution from vehicles, petrochemical plants, and AI data centers. These choices don't protect American families. They protect big polluters and wealthy industry insiders.
For decades, EPA safeguards have reduced pollution while our economy has grown. We know it's possible to have clean air and a strong economy. But Zeldin's leadership puts both at risk.
Moms Clean Air Force and our members have fought every rollback, but enough is enough. Congress must step in. Administrator Zeldin must be held accountable for corrupting EPA's mission and putting children's health at risk.
Tell Congress: It's time for new leadership at EPA. Zeldin must go.
As a parent concerned about the health impacts of air and climate pollution on children, I am writing to urge the House and Senate Committees with jurisdiction over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to exercise their oversight responsibilities and conduct hearings on the corruption of EPA's mission under the leadership of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. Never in EPA's history has an Administrator—Democratic or Republican—so recklessly pursued an agenda in opposition to everything the agency stands for.
EPA's mission is simple: protect human health and the environment. Yet under Administrator Zeldin's leadership, we've seen the opposite. Within one short year, he has unleashed an aggressive deregulatory campaign that, among other things, would result in:
• More mercury from coal-fired power plants. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that damages the developing fetal brain.
• More soot. Soot, or particle pollution, is a killer. It is lethal because it goes from our lungs to our bloodstreams, into our hearts and into our brains, contributing to heart attacks and strokes. It's also linked to the kinds of inflammation that cancer cells thrive on.
• More toxic chemicals. Administrator Zeldin's EPA is trying to make it easier for thousands of toxic chemicals—like formaldehyde, linked to cancers and hormone disruption—to get into the products we buy, use, and live within our homes every single day. Meanwhile, cancer rates among young adults are growing.
• More tailpipe pollution from trucks, buses, and cars, thanks to his proposal to eliminate all U.S. limits on climate pollution from tailpipes reaching back more than 15 years.
• More petrochemical and plastics pollution. Administrator Zeldin's EPA invited hundreds of large industrial facilities to apply for exemptions from Clean Air Act regulations, and 53 were awarded automatic two-year free passes to pollute.
• More climate pollution, which is rapidly and dangerously heating our planet, destabilizing our weather, and acidifying our oceans.
• More AI data center pollution as the oil and gas industry cashes in to fuel the explosion of these facilities across the country.
Although these actions are in line with industry interests, it's hard to see how this EPA-sanctioned pollution spree protects human health or the environment. In fact, Administrator Zeldin's actions feel more like an attack on public health. They'll lead to more asthma attacks, more pregnancy complications, more heart attacks and strokes, and more cancer. Further, the toll of these rollbacks contributes to a growing and alarming affordability crisis. Americans' medical bills will grow. Health insurance will become even more expensive. So too will the costs of electricity, food, and home insurance. Moreover, the delay in taking measures to adapt to a changing climate will cost American taxpayers billions of dollars. I understand that priorities shift with changing administrations, but Administrator Zeldin's disregard of congressional mandates and his agency's mission represents the most radical departure in EPA history. Never before has an EPA Administrator—from either party—unleashed such a destructive agenda.
As a parent, I do everything I can for children, but I can't do it alone. I rely on our government—including EPA and Congress—to do their jobs, and EPA's job is to protect human health and the environment. Congress has tasked EPA with clear mandates to achieve this goal through laws like the Clean Air Act. By ignoring or reinterpreting these laws, Administrator
Zeldin has violated the trust placed in him by Congress and the American people. I urge you to exercise your oversight authority to hold Administrator Zeldin accountable and ensure that EPA is fulfilling its core mission.
Sign PetitionSign PetitionEPA's mission is simple: protect human health and the environment. Yet under Administrator Zeldin's leadership, we've seen the opposite. Within one short year, he has unleashed an aggressive deregulatory campaign that, among other things, would result in:
• More mercury from coal-fired power plants. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that damages the developing fetal brain.
• More soot. Soot, or particle pollution, is a killer. It is lethal because it goes from our lungs to our bloodstreams, into our hearts and into our brains, contributing to heart attacks and strokes. It's also linked to the kinds of inflammation that cancer cells thrive on.
• More toxic chemicals. Administrator Zeldin's EPA is trying to make it easier for thousands of toxic chemicals—like formaldehyde, linked to cancers and hormone disruption—to get into the products we buy, use, and live within our homes every single day. Meanwhile, cancer rates among young adults are growing.
• More tailpipe pollution from trucks, buses, and cars, thanks to his proposal to eliminate all U.S. limits on climate pollution from tailpipes reaching back more than 15 years.
• More petrochemical and plastics pollution. Administrator Zeldin's EPA invited hundreds of large industrial facilities to apply for exemptions from Clean Air Act regulations, and 53 were awarded automatic two-year free passes to pollute.
• More climate pollution, which is rapidly and dangerously heating our planet, destabilizing our weather, and acidifying our oceans.
• More AI data center pollution as the oil and gas industry cashes in to fuel the explosion of these facilities across the country.
Although these actions are in line with industry interests, it's hard to see how this EPA-sanctioned pollution spree protects human health or the environment. In fact, Administrator Zeldin's actions feel more like an attack on public health. They'll lead to more asthma attacks, more pregnancy complications, more heart attacks and strokes, and more cancer. Further, the toll of these rollbacks contributes to a growing and alarming affordability crisis. Americans' medical bills will grow. Health insurance will become even more expensive. So too will the costs of electricity, food, and home insurance. Moreover, the delay in taking measures to adapt to a changing climate will cost American taxpayers billions of dollars. I understand that priorities shift with changing administrations, but Administrator Zeldin's disregard of congressional mandates and his agency's mission represents the most radical departure in EPA history. Never before has an EPA Administrator—from either party—unleashed such a destructive agenda.
As a parent, I do everything I can for children, but I can't do it alone. I rely on our government—including EPA and Congress—to do their jobs, and EPA's job is to protect human health and the environment. Congress has tasked EPA with clear mandates to achieve this goal through laws like the Clean Air Act. By ignoring or reinterpreting these laws, Administrator
Zeldin has violated the trust placed in him by Congress and the American people. I urge you to exercise your oversight authority to hold Administrator Zeldin accountable and ensure that EPA is fulfilling its core mission.
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