Anonymous,

How much pollution does your neighborhood need? I bet your answer is "none," but the Trump administration's new rule could take away your ability to say so.

Last month, the New York Times revealed that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is about to release a proposal that will weaken the rules that give communities a voice in deciding how much pollution may legally be released by nearby power plants and factories.1

And it gets worse: The agency will also make it easier for polluting companies to ask to release more pollution.

In short? The Trump administration is about to make it easier for polluting companies to pollute in our communities, and more difficult for us to have a say about it.

Tell the EPA: We should be making it more difficult to pollute our communities, not easier.

We know that water and air pollution is incredibly hazardous to our health. In fact, a 2019 study found that air pollution may be "damaging every organ in the human body."2

From lung and heart problems, including asthma, to increased risk of heart attack, cancer, and damage to the immune, neurological, reproductive and respiratory systems, the list of pollution's harm to our communities goes on and on.3,4,5,6

For decades U.S. PIRG and our national network have been alerting the public to toxic threats and advocating for solutions to curb pollution in our communities. Now, we need to mobilize Americans and citizens across the country to urge the EPA not to roll back our critical protections for our air and water.

Add your voice: Tell the EPA to keep our way of opposing pollution in our communities intact.

Industry lawyers told The New York Times that these changes "would eliminate burdensome red tape, speeding up the process" for the courts to grant permits to pollute.7

This is a step in the wrong direction. Everyone deserves access to clean, safe drinking water, and fresh air that won't put our health at risk.

We need less pollution, not more. And we should have the ability to stop pollution at every step of the way. Taking down barriers and speeding up the process jeopardizes public health.

The EPA needs to hear from the public now. Tell the EPA: don't speed up the process to pollute.

Thank you,

Faye Park
President

1. Coral Davenport, "E.P.A. Plans to Curtail the Ability of Communities to Oppose Pollution Permits," The New York Times, July 12, 2019.
2. Damian Carrington, "Revealed: air pollution may be damaging 'every organ in the body'," The Guardian, May 17, 2019.
3. "Air Pollution," Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Accessed July 23, 2019.
4. "Air Pollution and Heart Disease, Stroke," American Heart Association, Accessed July 23, 2019.
5."America's Biggest Mercury Polluters: How Cleaning up the Dirtiest Power Plants will Protect Public Health," Environment America Research & Policy Center, November 2011.
6. Damian Carrington, "Revealed: air pollution may be damaging 'every organ in the body'," The Guardian, May 17, 2019.
7. Coral Davenport, "E.P.A. Plans to Curtail the Ability of Communities to Oppose Pollution Permits," The New York Times, July 12, 2019.