One hundred members of Congress are calling out Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin for his wholesale assault on the central mission of the agency he was appointed to lead.
Leaders of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC), including Co-Chairs Reps. Doris Matsui, Mike Quigley and Paul Tonko, and Vice Chairs Reps. Don Beyer of Virginia, Suzanne Bonamici, Sean Casten, Mike Levin and Chellie Pingree, along with Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, led a bicameral letter to Zeldin on Wednesday.
They were joined by Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries calling on Zeldin to halt his egregious attacks.
“In just two months as EPA Administrator, you have demonstrated a complete disregard for the central mission of the agency you were appointed to lead. Instead of protecting the environment – as the agency name directs – you are protecting the special interests of big polluters. We urge you to halt your egregious attacks on the public health and well-being of the American people,” the members wrote.
On March 12, Zeldin announced the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” which included rolling back 31 environmental rules and regulations. The list of actions directly threatens Americans’ health and fundamental right to clean air and water by:
Rolling back National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter – some of the most dangerous air pollution known to directly cause asthma and other health issues;
Gutting EPA rules that prevent hazardous metals like mercury and arsenic from ending up in our water supply;
Reconsidering national emissions standards for cancer-causing hazardous air pollutants, including ethylene oxide;
Ending the “Good Neighbor” rule, which simply acknowledged that pollution does not respect state lines and that downwind states should not be burdened by their neighbors’ pollution;
Repealing power plant emissions standards, allowing existing gas and coal-fired power plants to pump unlimited climate pollution into our air; and
Revoking the landmark “Endangerment Finding” that simply states climate-changing pollutants are dangerous to human health, and which serves as the foundation for climate pollution to be regulated under the Clean Air Act.
In their letter, the congressional members point out that, as a result of the Trump EPA repealing and gutting critical environmental and public health protections, communities and families will pay higher health costs and be exposed to more mercury and air toxins from coal-fired power plants and more polluted wastewater from oil and gas producers.
“While countries around the world are clamoring for cleaner, cheaper and more innovative technologies, you are actively hamstringing America’s homegrown clean energy industry, which has already injected $422 billion and 400,000 jobs into our economy in just the past two and a half years. This is anything but unleashing American energy. At the same time, instead of lowering costs for American families, your actions will result in the opposite. Americans’ medical expenses will increase because your Polluters First agenda will allow particulate matter and other hazardous air pollution to go unchecked,” the lawmakers wrote.
Their letter explained that for every $1 the country spends to reduce air pollution, an estimated yield of $30 in economic benefits is returned. Yet, the Trump EPA is choosing to unleash more air pollutants that are linked to Alzheimer’s, miscarriages and childhood asthma, as well as other public health concerns.
“Your actions will needlessly increase American families’ exposure to the pollution that can make them sick and stick them with the bill for their care,” the members concluded.
The SEEC is a coalition of 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives that was founded in January 2009 to be a focused, active and effective coalition for advancing policies that address climate change, promote clean energy innovation and domestic manufacturing, develop renewable energy resources, create family-sustaining clean jobs, protect our nation’s air, water, and natural environment, and promote environmental justice.
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Rebecca Barnabi
