Groups share outrage as Agency’s final delay is a violation of its role to protect health of environmental justice communities
PARA PUBLICACIÓN INMEDIATA
December 8, 2025
Contact: Ashley Sullivan, [email protected], 1-917-837-1183
WASHINGTON - Last week while most were spending time with loved ones, EPA moved forward to finalize its proposal to delay compliance deadlines under the 2024 Section 111 methane rule, despite widespread opposition from the environmental justice and broader community. In October, GreenLatinos, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and Climate Justice Alliance, along with 106 partner organizations submitted formal comments opposing this delay which will have major consequences for vulnerable communities. The 2024 updated methane rule would have required industry polluters to significantly reduce harmful methane emissions and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), starting in 2025. The coalition urged EPA to abandon this effort, as this rule is unjustifiable, unlawful, and will have devastating consequences for frontline communities, public health, and our collective ability to confront the climate crisis.
Yosef Robele, Federal Policy Manager at WE ACT for Environmental Justice shared, ““Delaying the methane rule denies communities the life‑saving health protections, projected to prevent 1,500 premature deaths and 100,000 asthma attacks each year. The delay will have real consequences for environmental justice communities living near fossil fuel infrastructure, who already bear the worst impacts of pollution and the climate crisis. We will continue to demand accountability and push to ensure our communities receive the protections they deserve and should be guaranteed under the law.”
“The EPA was created to protect our environment and our health, not to delay lifesaving protections while communities get sicker,” said Mar Zepeda Salazar, Legislative Director with Climate Justice Alliance. “Methane drives extreme heat, fuels dangerous air pollution, and worsens the climate disasters we experience every day. In frontline communities–whether Indigenous, poor white, Black and Brown communities, or working families–this delay means more children missing school because of asthma attacks, more parents missing work while trying to make ends meet, and more families struggling under the weight of mounting medical bills. The EPA’s latest move to further delay the reduction of harmful methane emissions is unjustifiable, unlawful, and a direct betrayal of the agency’s mission. Our future can’t be left on the backburner while polluters' pockets are filled.”
“This delay locks in more methane pollution, more toxic air, and more illness for frontline, working-class communities, while families face higher health costs, lost wages, and rising utility bills,” said Meisei Gonzalez, Climate Justice and Clean Air Advocate at GreenLatinos.
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Acerca de GreenLatinos
VerdeLatinos (NOTA: GreenLatinos es UNA PALABRA) es una comunidad activa de líderes latinos, envalentonados por el poder y la sabiduría de nuestra cultura, unidos para exigir equidad y desmantelar el racismo, con recursos para ganar nuestras batallas ambientales, de conservación y de justicia climática, y motivados para asegurar nuestras políticas, Liberación económica, cultural y ambiental.
VerdeLatinos (NOTA: GreenLatinos es UNA PALABRA) es una comunidad activa de líderes latinos/a/e, envalentonados por el poder y la sabiduría de nuestra cultura, unidos para exigir equidad y desmantelar el racismo, con recursos para ganar nuestra justicia ambiental, batallas de conservación, climáticas e impulsadas a asegurar nuestra Liberación política, económica, cultural y ambiental.
