Jessica King, jessica.king@sierraclub.org
Washington, DC — Today, the Sierra Club and 28 partners personally delivered over 72,000 public comments, including 11,686 comments collected by the Sierra Club, urging the Environmental Protection Agency to protect public health and address dangerous interstate ozone pollution by adopting the strongest possible version of the agency’s proposed Good Neighbor Plan for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
The Good Neighbor Plan will protect residents in dozens of states who are unknowingly and unwillingly subjected to harmful air pollution from power plants and industrial facilities often hundreds of miles away. This type of pollution significantly contributes to ground-level ozone, or smog, and EPA’s plan addresses this dangerous pollution using a combination of approaches proven to limit a key ingredient in smog, ozone season emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx).
In response, Sierra Club National Director, Policy Advocacy and Legal, Leslie Fields released the following statement:
“Air pollution knows no boundaries, and the millions of people downwind of power plants and industrial facilities should not be forced to breathe disease-causing smog pollution. It’s past time the fossil fuel power plants and industrial facilities that are polluting communities – in particular, Black and Brown communities already living under the weight of dangerous pollutants – comply with strict air quality standards.
“Passing a strong Good Neighbor Plan would prevent a thousand premature deaths annually, as well as avoid over 2,000 hospital and emergency room visits and 470,000 school absence days by 2026. This plan would be a huge victory for public health and the Sierra Club is encouraged by the EPA’s proposal. But now, the agency must advance their mission of protecting human health and the environment by passing the strongest, most health-protective Good Neighbor Plan that science and the law will support, and doing so as quickly as possible.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.