GreenLatinos Condemns EPA Plan to Ignore Lives Saved in Air Pollution Rules
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1/13/25
CONTACTO PARA LOS MEDIOS: Edder Díaz Martínez, Communications Director, 602-832-6039, [email protected]
WASHINGTON— Recent reporting shows that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to change how it evaluates air pollution rules. According to agency documents, the EPA would stop including public health benefits in the analyses it uses when setting limits on air pollution and would instead only focus on the costs to companies.
For decades, the EPA has used scientific and public health data when developing clean air rules. These analyses document how changes in air pollution levels are associated with health outcomes such as asthma attacks, hospital visits, missed workdays, and premature deaths, particularly among children, older adults, and people with heart or lung disease.
The planned change would apply to air pollution rules covering pollutants such as fine particulate matter and ozone, which are produced by sources including power plants, vehicles, and industrial facilities.
Latino communities and other frontline communities are more likely to live near these pollution sources and experience higher exposure to air pollution, according to federal and public health data.
In response to the announcement, GreenLatinos raised concerns about the EPA's direction.
“Stripping health impacts out of air pollution rules is not a technical adjustment; it is a moral failure. This EPA action puts corporate profits ahead of children’s lungs, elders’ hearts, and workers’ health. When agencies refuse to take into account asthma attacks, hospitalizations, and premature deaths, they are telling our communities, especially frontline communities living next to highways, refineries, and power plants, that our lives do not matter,”said Mark Magaña, GreenLatinos Founding President & CEO
“Reporting health impacts is how we understand the real harms of pollution and set meaningful targets to reduce it. Leaving those impacts out of the process hides the damage and undermines efforts to protect public health,” said Meisei Gonzalez, GreenLatinos Climate Justice and Clean Air Advocate.
“The people of New Mexico face substantial challenges from extractive industries, from methane pollution in the Permian Basin to particulates in San Juan County to ozone in Albuquerque. It is our most vulnerable and historically excluded communities that bear the brunt of industrial air pollution. Disregarding the impact on people’s lives is morally reprehensible. The EPA exists for the benefit of the people of this country, not to bolster profits for corporate interests,” said Carlos Matutes, GreenLatlinos New Mexico State Director.
“In Illinois, Latino/a/e families are far more likely to live near highways, factories, and warehouses. When the EPA ignores public health impacts, it ignores our reality: children missing school because of asthma, elders struggling to breathe, and workers risking their health just to earn a paycheck. Clean air standards must be grounded in science and justice, not industry convenience,” said Lucy Contreras, GreenLatinos Illinois State Director.
“Latinos and other frontline communities in California are routinely exposed to some of the worst air pollution in the nation and these decisions will further exacerbate these disproportionate impacts. As the EPA continues to dismantle common-sense public health protections, the entire country must unfortunately brace for rising rates of asthma, childhood illness, and shortened life expectancies,” dicho Pedro Hernandez, GreenLatinos California State Director.
“Colorado is already in Clean Air Act nonattainment, which means our air is failing the test. Now EPA wants to stop counting the people who pay for that failure — kids with asthma, seniors on Medicare, and families relying on Medicaid to breathe. Ignoring health costs doesn’t make them disappear; it just shifts the bill from polluters to taxpayers.” said Ean Tafoya GreenLatinos Colorado State Director.
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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.
