Tag Archives: Environmental Protection Agency

Cleaner Air:

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Let’s get this done!

Last month the Senate finally confirmed new EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, and she has a lot of important work to do. That includes a clean-car plan that is widely supported by health groups, cities, enviros – even the auto industry.

With some minor changes to new cars, and cleaner gasoline that would add about a penny per gallon, this plan would remove the equivalent of 33 million polluting cars from our roads!

But Big Oil is digging in against it. They don’t want to make changes in their refineries, and they want your family to live with the consequences – dirtier air, dirtier environment.

Let’s show the new EPA Administrator that Americans support this common-sense plan. Send a quick email of support now, and show Big Oil that they don’t run our country!

Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

EPA needs to hear from you, not Big Oil!If Americans speak out in support of a plan that will clean up our gasoline and our air, we can beat back Big Oil. But we have to get this done by the end of the year. Tell the EPA’s new boss to approve it now!

The clock is ticking on a clean-car plan that will dramatically slash pollution in our cities – the equivalent of taking 33 million cars off our roads!

The Environmental Protection Agency has only four months to finalize a plan that would clean up our gasoline so it doesn’t emit so much pollution when it’s burned. And with a new EPA administrator now on board, we have a great opportunity to get it moving!

Of course, Big Oil is out in force trying to kill it. They don’t want to make needed changes in their refineries, and they expect you to live with the consequences – tens of thousands of more respiratory problems in kids and adults, and the resulting environmental problems.

Tell new EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy you support the clean-car plan. She needs to hear from you, not just Big Oil.

While many of us would like a world without polluting cars, we’re just not there yet. But we can make a huge dent in pollution by cleaning up the gas our vehicles run on. The air near our roadways has high concentrations of particulates, ozone, carbon monoxide, lead and sulfur – over 50 percent of which come from vehicles.

This plan would add under a penny to a gallon of gas, and less than $150 to the cost of a new car in 2025. It’s widely backed by public health officials, cities, environmentalists – even the auto industry is on board.

But Big Oil is digging in! They’re hoping to run out the clock or get Congress to intervene and kill it. That’s why it’s so important EPA Administrator McCarthy finalizes the plan soon!

Send a quick email of support right now. It’s a common-sense way to clean our air and improve the environment.

If you have friends and family who would join you in action, please forward this email to them. Let’s show the new EPA director that Big Oil doesn’t run our country!

Sincerely, Shannon Baker-Branstetter, Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

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A big Win! and Thank the EPA

08/28/2012 Nativegrl77

Union of Concerned Scientists

Big Win for Clean Cars

www.ucsusa.org

This is a historic week for U.S. consumers and for the future of our nation’s costly oil use. The Obama administration just finalized fuel economy and global warming emissions standards for cars and light trucks sold in model years 2017-2025, which will roughly double the fuel efficiency of these vehicles.

The standards will save drivers of a new 2025 vehicle nearly $8,000 over its lifetime, compared to driving a typical vehicle on the road today. In addition, the standards will reduce global warming emissions by as much as 270 million metric tons in 2030—the equivalent of shutting down 65 coal-fired power plants for one year.

These standards represent the biggest single step our country can take to reduce oil use, cutting consumption by 1.5 million barrels a day in 2030 and putting us on the path towards halving our projected oil use over the next 20 years.

Much work remains to get to this ambitious goal, and we will no doubt have to protect this hard-fought victory. But today we celebrate, and say thank you.

Thank you for being a part of the UCS community that contacted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Transportation (DOT), and White House more than 75,000 times to support strong clean car standards throughout the last two years. Thank you for supporting and defending these standards at public hearings, in local newspapers, and in your communities. We would not be celebrating this victory without you.

Now we need your help in delivering one last thank you: Tell the EPA and DOT how much you appreciate the finalization of these standards.

Send a Thank You Today! www.ucsusa.org

Sincerely,

Rachel Cohen
National Field Organizer
UCS Clean Vehicles Program

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Center for American Progress

08/10/2012 Nativegrl77

August 10, 2012| View Online

Soot Pollution 101

What You Need to Know and How You Can Help Prevent It
By Jackie Weidman, Susannah Marshall


	Ask the Expert: How Reducing Soot Pollution Can Save Lives Dr. Christopher Lillis explains why soot is hazardous to our public health, how it affects regular people and the benefits of reducing soot pollution through new Environmental Protection Agency regulations. Watch the video here.

Earlier this summer the Environmental Protection Agency proposed updated clean-air standards that will prevent tens of thousands of premature deaths. The proposal comes in response to legal action calling upon the EPA to update final regulations for particle pollution. This rule is in line with the Clean Air Act’s requirements to protect public health and improve air quality.
Particle pollution, commonly referred to as “soot,” is one of the deadliest forms of air pollution.
This 101 details why it is essential that the EPA adopts the strictest rules possible to protect Americans from the dangers of breathing these particles.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

08/03/2012 Nativegrl77

A Huge Show of Support for the Power Plant Standard The Environmental Protection Agency received more than 2.3 million comments in support of the carbon pollution standard, breaking its previous public comment record by leaps and bounds. Thank you for making history with us.

You Made History! The EPA Received a Record-Breaking Number of Comments in Support of the Carbon Pollution Standard

We all understand that carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels—the gasoline in our cars and coal in our power plants—are contributing to global warming. With so much of the country undergoing drought, heat waves, and other weather extremes, many are asking if climate change is playing a role.

The latest science studying extreme weather events over decades indicates strong evidence for links between climate change and extreme heat, intense precipitation, and droughts. It’s clear that the time for climate action is now.That’s why I’m so excited to say that, with your help, more than 40,000 UCS supporters submitted comments in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed standard to reduce carbon pollution from new power plants.

Not only did UCS surpass our goal of 40,000 comments, but together with a broad coalition of public health, environmental, labor, faith, and other organizations, we made history and broke a record! More than 2.3 million citizens across the country submitted comments to the EPA in support of the carbon pollution standard.

This is the most comments the EPA has ever received on a proposed standard, and demonstrates the widespread public support for the EPA’s efforts to protect our health and clean up dirty power plants. In addition, UCS staff and members of the UCS Science Network—including doctors, nurses, and economists—testified in support of the standard at hearings in Chicago and Washington, DC. We also released a letter from 372 public health professionals who back the EPA’s efforts to address climate change.

This was truly an unprecedented showing of support for action to limit carbon emissions from power plants. Now, we’re ready for the next step.

We expect the EPA to finalize its standard for new power plants this year and then to follow up with similarly strong standards to limit carbon pollution from existing power plants—like our nation’s oldest and dirtiest coal fired power plants—which accounts for about 40 percent of our global warming emissions.

Unfortunately, some lawmakers have already announced that they plan to introduce legislation to block or delay this historic standard as soon as it is finalized this year. But I know I can count on you to help defend the EPA’s standard from congressional attacks in the coming months.

Thank you for helping make this a big success! The EPA has heard loud and clear that the country is ready to meet the climate challenge—and that this is only the first, small step towards protecting our health and the environment from the impacts of global warming.

Sincerely,

Chrissy Elles Outreach Associate UCS Climate & Energy Program

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Tell the EPA: Keep Diesel Out of Our Drinking Water

07/03/2012 Nativegrl77

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a dangerous drilling technique threatening water, air, wildlife and public health all over the United States. It’s done by blasting millions of gallons of a chemical-water-sand mixture deep into the Earth to break up rock formations to harvest oil and gas.

In 2005, in a law known as the “Halliburton loophole,” Congress exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act all fracking chemicals except one: diesel fuel. The Environmental Protection Agency has just asked for public comment on how it should regulate the use of diesel fuel in fracking.

Evidence is mounting throughout the country that fracking chemicals are making their way into aquifers and drinking water, and diesel contains the toxic substances benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. Risking more chemical contamination of our drinking water is a no-go.

Take action to tell the EPA to ban fracking with diesel without delay.