Time to act

As coronavirus cases rise across the country, and even as his time as Environmental Protection Agency administrator is dwindling, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is launching an eleventh hour attack on air pollution safeguards by precluding the EPA from considering the real world benefits of cutting air pollution. This is yet another example of the Trump administration EPA rigging the rules to let polluters off the hook.

Preventing these real world benefits from consideration will artificially exaggerate the cost for meeting the requirements, handing big polluter CEOs a win by allowing more air pollution. This will also have dire consequences for communities of color, who already suffer disproportionate harm from air pollution. The consequences of air pollution are even higher as we continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. Air pollution can lead to health issues such as heart attacks, strokes and diabetes — all preexisting conditions that increase the chance of a COVID-19 death. And studies have shown that air pollution might directly worsen the risks and effects of COVID-19. This decision clearly shows the EPA’s disregard for human health.

This rule is a handout to big polluters, and it endangers low-income communities and communities of color most of all, while weakening clean air safeguards nationwide. Instead of more rollbacks, Americans want climate action because they know it’s time to act.

Hunter Noffsinger, Sierra Club community outreach coordinator, Norfolk