Are you one of the over 800,000 people who submitted a comment to the Environmental Protection Agency supporting proposed mercury pollution protections? Are you one of the hundreds who attended a public hearing in Chicago, Atlanta, or Philadelphia to support the draft standards? Are you one of the hundreds who attended a hair testing event to check your mercury levels, organized a stroller brigade with fellow parents, or joined a rally to get these protections across the finish line?

If so, then today you should celebrate, because you helped win a historic victory for our health. Today we are all applauding the EPA and the Obama Administration for issuing the first-ever nationwide protections against toxic mercury from dirty power plants. Hundreds of thousands of Americans spoke up for these vital safeguards via public comments, rallies, hearings, mercury teach-ins, and so much more. This is an epic victory we can all call our own.

No longer will the coal industry get away with poisoning our families. Mercury is a dangerous brain poison that can hinder children’s growth and development and cause neurological problems in young children.  Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of mercury pollution in the United States, pumping more than 33 tons of this dangerous toxin into our air each year, and seeping into our water and the fish we eat.

As I reflect on this remarkable achievement, I also find myself thinking about the day I learned I was pregnant with my daughter Hazel, who is now one-and-a-half. It was a miraculous feeling, knowing that I was bringing a baby into the world. I pledged to eat right, exercise, and take care of myself, so that I could give her the best possible start in life. I also hoped I hadn’t eaten too much fish high in mercury in the months prior to getting pregnant, since I knew I would be passing all that mercury to my baby in the womb. Thankfully, my mercury levels were low and Hazel is a happy, healthy toddler.

With these new protections in place, moms and dads of the future may have one less thing to worry about. Women and young children will be protected by these new safeguards – a critical move because each and every year, more than 300,000 babies are born who have been exposed to dangerous levels of mercury in the womb. These protections against toxic mercury will slash mercury pollution by over 90 percent from every single coal plant in America, and will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and young children.

This historic announcement comes after more than two years of amazing grassroots work to raise awareness about mercury pollution and show support for mercury protections. I think of all the people who held or participated in mercury hair testing events, got postcards signed, attended or organized around a hearing, held or attended any of the dozens of other mercury awareness events organized nationwide, or submitted one of the more than 800,000 supportive comments received by EPA – the largest number of comments ever submitted to EPA on any issue.

Congress required reductions of mercury and other air toxics from power plants way back in 1990, when they passed amendments to the Clean Air Act, but the coal industry had succeeded in blocking the standards for over two decades. Now, the wait is over, and these long-overdue protections are finally in place.

I hope everyone will join me in thanking President Obama and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson for listening to Americans and for their leadership and courage in issuing these mercury protections. We are thrilled with today’s announcement – a historic victory for clean air, clean water, and healthy families. Congratulations to one and all!

I just came back from a trip to Illinois, where the state had the good sense to put mercury protections in place for coal-fired power plants back in 2006. Unfortunately, here in West Virginia and in most other states, there are no mercury protections in place whatsoever, because the coal lobby has spent the last two decades blocking federal mercury standards for coal plants. So mercury rains down on the rest of us, while residents of a handful of states enjoy strong mercury protections.

Today, a new report names the top mercury polluters in the country, and you should check it out – one of them might be in your state, or even in your backyard.

I’ve written about the health effects of coal plant’s mercury emissions numerous times – and the reason I keep beating that drum is because the industry is getting away with so much as they pollute our air and water, while our families pay the price. Something needs to be done.

Mercury especially threatens pregnant women and young children. I will never forget being warned by my doctor, when I was pregnant, not to eat fish known to be high in mercury, because of the danger that mercury exposure would cause developmental problems in my daughter – a lowered IQ, and delays in walking and talking. Fortunately, I was informed, but many mothers are not. Alarmingly, as many as 1 in 6 American women have enough mercury in their bodies to put a baby at risk. That means that over 300,000 babies are born each year at risk of mercury poisoning.

And so I’m especially disturbed by this new analysis from the Environmental Integrity Project that we’re helping release today.

The EIP analysis shows total state-by-state and plant-by-plant emission levels for arsenic, chromium, mercury, cobalt, hydrochloric acid, nickel, and selenium, all of which are toxic pollutants.

Look at this list of the Top 20 Power Plant Air Toxics Emitters (click the graphic to enlarge).

While all people living near these plants are at risk, Pennsylvanians are at an especially huge risk from the six plants that made this list. A relatively small handful of the nation’s most polluting power plants generate a disproportionate amount of reported toxic emissions

And if we narrow it down to just the emitters of mercury, Texans suffer the brunt from six plants in the top 20. And that’s just if you’re considering those living nearby. Unfortunately, this air pollution doesn’t respect county lines or state boundaries. (Click the graphic to enlarge)

According to EIP, the filthiest states highlighted in the report are (in alphabetical order):   Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, my home state of West Virginia, and Wyoming. If you don’t live in one of those states, like I do, I would wager you have friends or family who do.

More shocking results from this report:

• The top 20 percent of all power plant mercury emitters reported 43,020 pounds, or almost 22 tons, of the chemical in 2010. This is 65 percent of all power plant mercury emissions nationwide. Considering that one drop of mercury pollution is enough to pollute a 20 – acre lake, this is a jaw-dropping amount of mercury pollution.

• The electric power industry emits two-thirds of the nation’s industrial mercury emissions – our single biggest source of mercury pollution.

• Texas is by far the nation’s top power plant mercury air polluter. Texas coal-fired power plants emitted 16.9 percent of the total U.S. mercury air emissions for 2010, and Texas is home to 11 of the top 50 mercury emitters in the nation.

We cannot let this continue. Thankfully, President Obama is preparing to issue the first nationwide protections for toxic mercury from coal plants, which would slash 90% of toxic mercury from coal-fired power plants. We expect those standards out later this month, and we will need everyone to weigh in with a strong show of support, since they are sure to come under attack from the biggest polluters.

As part of Mercury Awareness Week this week, Americans are showing their support for these long-overdue protections. Unfortunately, Big Coal and Big Oil are lobbying hard to block these commonsense safeguards. You can join me in showing your support by taking action today.

This air and water pollution must stop, for our families’ sakes.

Why should you care about the Cross State Air Pollution Rule? Because it could save your life, or the life of someone you love. Congress is continuing its attacks on clean air this week, and the latest target in their cross-hairs is the life-saving Cross State Air Pollution Rule.

This clean air safeguard would require 27 states in the eastern half of the United States to improve air quality by addressing dangerous pollution from coal-fired power plants that crosses state lines. It is an update of a system that has been in place in the eastern US for decades and has successfully – and cost-effectively – cleaned up some of our worst sources of air pollution.

Unfortunately, some dirty coal plants have still not cleaned up, which is why these new protections are critical for improving our health. Coal utilities have known this update was coming for years, and they have had plenty of time to prepare.

Now Senator Rand Paul is hoping to void this public health protection through a Congressional Review Act resolution (S.J. Res. 27), a fancy piece of Congressional maneuvering that would stop these much-needed, common-sense protections in their tracks. It is likely to come up for a vote on Thursday (Nov. 10).

The Cross State safeguard is estimated to provide $120 to $280 billion in annual benefits for the US, and is forecast to prevent up to 34,000 premature deaths, 15,000 nonfatal heart attacks and 400,000 cases of aggravated asthma every year.

We don’t have to choose between public health and jobs. That’s a false choice, as the White House pointed out yesterday in their blog about this emerging threat.

The excuses of the Cross State Air Pollution Rule opponents are nothing more than thinly-veiled attempts to hide their intentions of sacrificing public and environmental health in the name of enriching and protecting generous corporate polluters. Thankfully, President Obama has said he will veto this measure if it reaches his desk. (PDF)

Senator Paul’s resolution would pick winners and losers among utility companies – those that have spent money to clean up pollution while this protection was in the making would lose out, while those that disregarded forthcoming laws and kept polluting would win.

Senator Paul’s resolution would be disastrous for our health, our air and the economy. The Cross State Air Pollution Rule is a much needed, long-overdue safeguard and any attempt to block or delay implementation should be opposed.

Congress needs to get out of the way and let the Environmental Protection Agency do its job. This week EPA also sent its planned mercury and carbon pollution safeguards to the Office of Management and Budget for final approval.

The EPA and Administrator Lisa Jackson are trying to protect our health and the environment.  Americans want clean air and water. These new protections will save money and save lives. So why does Congress keep trying to block public health safeguards?

Contact your Senator and tell them to defend the Cross State Air Pollution Rule.

How many more coal ash spills need to happen before Americans are protected by coal ash safeguards? The latest happened Monday in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, at the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant.

Thankfully there were no injuries when “(a) large section of bluff collapsed Monday next to the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant, sending dirt, coal ash and mud cascading into the shoreline next to Lake Michigan and dumping a pickup truck, dredging equipment, soil and other debris into the lake.”

The ridge was made of coal ash, and a We Energies spokesperson said some coal ash did spill into Lake Michigan. The photos of the site are sad, and they also make me angry.

In 2008’s Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash disaster, we witnessed first-hand how a lack of strong national protections leaves the job of handling coal ash with state regulators who lack the will and ability to protect communities from coal ash.  

And since the TVA disaster, the industry has been lobbying hard to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from establishing new protections, arguing, they say, that states are doing a fine job regulating coal ash. As a result, communities across the nation remain at risk and unprotected.  

Just two weeks ago the industry successfully lobbied the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill stripping the EPA of the authority to protect Americans from coal ash. 

Monday’s collapse on Lake Michigan is particularly troublesome because We Energies has known for years that its management of coal ash at this facility was a threat to human health. Indeed, they have been providing bottled water to neighbors whose wells have been contaminated.

This Great Lakes collapse is a tragic reminder of why the status quo is not good enough. As long as Congress interferes, spills – some deadly – are going to happen, and dozens of communities are at risk. Congress needs to back off, and the EPA needs to finalize strong protections.

Monday’s Lake Michigan coal ash collapse shows that states are not protecting our health and our environment from cancer-causing coal ash, and as long as EPA fails to act, there will be more coal ash destruction.

Weight of the world got you down? Stressed out by visions of exploding mountains, warming planets, and mounting to-do lists? Me too. Thankfully, I had a major ray of hope recently that I would love to share with you, in the hopes that it will lift your spirits as much as it lifted mine. Yesterday, I had the great privilege of joining 30 youth clean energy leaders when they met with Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson at Howard University in Washington, DC.

These students had come to DC as a culminating event in their campaign to hold 100 clean energy events at their colleges and universities in the month of October. From flash mobs to press conferences, these youth leaders have been working overtime to send a clear message – they want their campuses to move beyond coal, to 100% clean energy. Like me, many of these student’s cited the devastation caused mountaintop removal coal mining as their first motivation for getting involved in helping move the nation beyond coal.

They’ve been making headlines and making a difference, and now they were bringing their message to the nation’s top environmental official.

Administrator Lisa Jackson gave the students a warm reception. She talked to them about some of the accomplishments she’s most proud of, including stronger mileage standards for cars and trucks, and reducing air pollution from coal-fired power plants across the eastern US.

She also talked about her big priorities moving forward, primarily finalizing long-overdue standards that will slash mercury pollution from our nation’s biggest source – you guessed it, coal-fired power plants. She also told the students that the basic environmental protections we all take for granted are under attack, and that it’s up to all of us to ensure we stop polluters from unraveling our basic clean air and water safeguards.

Yes, it was great to hear that these important health and safety protections are still a priority for the White House. What was even more inspiring were the stories of the students, who asked Jackson about youth engagement, the mercury standards, and the Keystone XL pipeline.

And after meeting with Jackson, the students went to a meeting at the White House. Here is how one student saw the day of action in Washington, DC:

Maura Friedman, University of Georgia.

Yesterday, 35 students from across the country, from the Midwest to the Southeast and everywhere in between, met with White House officials to discuss the work they’ve been doing within their campuses and communities and press administrators to stand with youth in their fight for public health.

Our first meeting was with Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. She listened to the personal stories of students and took questions, confirming her commitment to those affected by pollution.

Addressing students working on Campuses Beyond Coal campaigns targeting on campus coal plants, Jackson said, “It’s not fair when colleges that are supposed to be teaching people are costing local children IQ points,” referring to mercury emissions.

At the White House, we met with Jon Carson, the Director of the Office of Public Engagement, and Ronnie Cho, White House Liaison to Young Americans. Students shared personal stories but also delved into the organizing we’ve engaged in to produce positive change.

Our exchanges were met with nods and notes; I felt heard. But I’m waiting to see if we were actually listened to – I’m waiting for action.

As a Southerner, I feel forgotten by environmental protections, but we’re on the frontline of the battle for public health. In Georgia alone there are 13 coal-fired plants, as well as two new proposed plants and a coal boiler on my campus at the University of Georgia.

Our health can’t wait for the politics of public health to work itself out – we’re sick from pollutants now. We need mercury safeguards from the EPA to curb the health costs of coal. The Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline needs to be rejected, lest we expose American families to oil spills and, in Lisa Jackson’s own words, cut the nation in half.

–

Thank you to these youth leaders for being such an effective, strategic, and tireless voice for clean energy, and for moving our nation beyond coal. The Sierra Club is proud to stand with you.

Photo by Javier Sierra. See more photos on the Sierra Club’s Flickr Page.

As a mom, I often take for granted that the water I put in my daughters sippy cup is safe, and the air that she breathes when she’s playing outside is cleaner than it was when I was a child. This is no accident – it’s the result of decades of enforcement of basic health and environmental safeguards. Unfortunately, it looks like we can’t take those protections for granted anymore.

Last week the House of Representatives continued its assault on public health and environmental protections by passing bills that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from doing its job. Yes, it’s hard to believe. But it’s even more astonishing that our representatives are taking these radical actions in the face of new polling information that shows overwhelming majorities of Americans support stronger health and environmental standards, and they also think Congress should back off and let EPA do its job.

First, the House passed legislation that would block critical protections against toxic mercury and other dangerous chemicals and metals emitted by industrial boilers, which are among the nation’s biggest and dirtiest sources of mercury pollution. Boilers exist in and around hospitals, schools and communities across the country, exposing Americans to toxic mercury pollution, a known brain poison that threatens the development of young children.

Then, as I detailed in my column last week, they passed a bill that would put a weak scheme in place that requires more protections on household trash than toxic coal ash, even though coal ash pollution includes health risks like cancer, neurological disorders, birth defects, reproductive failure, asthma and other serious illnesses.

Not only are House members not paying attention how important these critical protections are, but they are also not listening to Americans. Last week, Ceres released a poll showing that American voters overwhelmingly support two critical EPA rules that limit air pollution from electric power plants. Some (77%) support the stronger protections now in the works that would reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal fired power plants.

Support for these those protections cross political boundaries – among Republicans, more than 3-in-5 support this air toxics rule. Voters also don’t buy into the notion that these rules will cost jobs and hurt the economy: 66% believe that the protections will promote both short-term and long-term job growth. Voters expect the EPA’s protections to have positive impacts on air quality (84%), people’s health (82%), and water quality (75%).

Now House members have their sights set on the Cross State Air Pollution safeguard, which would improve air quality for over 240 million Americans. It’s an update of commonsense protection that has been in place for years. These improvements to the standard are poised prevent up to 34,000 deaths and 400,000 cases of aggravated asthma, with a benefit to cost ratio of 350:1.

That same Ceres poll shows that 66% of Americans support the Cross State Air Pollution safeguard.

Another key finding: 75% say the EPA – not Congress – should determine air pollution standards.

It’s time for Congress to listen to Americans: Stop trying to gut the Clean Air Act and stop blocking efforts to protect public health. Let EPA do its job.

Americans want strong protections against toxic coal ash – that’s why they submitted more than 450,000 public comments during the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) process to put long-overdue protections in place.

Unfortunately, Congressman David McKinley (R-WV) recently introduced the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2011 (H.R. 2273), which would handcuff EPA’s ability to move forward with strong coal ash disposal safeguards for our communities. And even worse, this bill is expected to come up for a vote this week.

Believe it or not, the banana peel you throw away has more robust protections on it than coal ash containing mercury, arsenic, hexavalent chromium and lead. If this bill passes, that horrible status quo would become the law.

Coal ash is the abundant and dangerous waste left over after coal is burned. Our nation’s power plants generate 140 million tons of it every year. It’s the second-largest waste stream in the country, after municipal garbage! Despite having hazardous ingredients like mercury, coal ash has never been subject to any federal protections, and state laws governing disposal are usually weak or non-existent.

This lack of protections made national headlines in 2008, when a TVA dam burst and spilled one billion gallons of coal ash (100x larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill) into a beautiful small farming town in Tennessee. At the time, EPA chief Lisa Jackson vowed to put long-overdue, national coal ash protections in place. But the coal industry has met those proposed standards with fierce opposition and a blizzard of lobbying.

This isn’t just a problem in Tennessee. Across the country, billions of tons of coal ash have been dumped in enormous and precarious waste ponds, pits, landfills and mines, putting human health at risk from large-scale disasters and gradual – yet equally dangerous – contamination as toxins in coal ash seep into drinking water sources.

Let me quote something shocking from a joint fact from Sierra Club, the Environmental Integrity Project, and Earthjustice:

In 2010, EPA published a risk assessment that found extremely high risks to human health and the environment from the disposal of coal ash in waste ponds and landfills. The chart below compares EPA’s findings on the cancer risk from arsenic in coal ash disposed in some unlined waste ponds to several other cancer risks, along with the highest level of cancer risk that EPA finds acceptable under current regulatory goals. The risk from coal ash is 2000 times that regulatory goal.

This is unacceptable, and it’s why we must oppose Congressman David McKinley’s Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2011 (H.R. 2273).  Passage of this bill would allow states to continue operating every leak-prone and high hazard toxic coal ash dump without requiring basic federal safeguards and virtually blocking EPA from stepping in to protect communities.

H.R. 2273 would endanger the health and safety of thousands of communities, fail to stimulate coal ash recycling, and disrupt EPA’s public process that has been underway for over two years.

McKinley’s bill is about shielding coal companies and utilities from their responsibility to clean up sites they have contaminated – not about increasing the safe recycling of coal ash, and not about protecting communities.

Take action today and tell your Congressional representative to vote “No” on the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2011 (H.R. 2273).

Now there’s a headline to catch your attention. It may sound silly – but it’s actually a very real threat. Power plants are killing fish and damaging our waterways via their outdated once-through cooling systems. We need your help now, too, because the deadline for action to remedy this situation is Thursday, August 18th!

Let me explain what we mean by giant fish blenders. Antiquated power plants (many of them coal-fired power plants) throughout the nation use water-intake structures to help cool systems that have generated heat during the energy-making process. These pipes sit below the water’s surface and suck in not only water, but also anything else in the vicinity. This process shreds and destroys the aquatic life drawn in.

After the water is drawn through the power plant, it is discharged at an elevated temperature back into the waterbody, causing even more damage. The process affects the full spectrum of wildlife in the aquatic ecosystem at all life stages—from tiny photosynthetic organisms to fish, shrimp, crabs, birds and marine mammals. Some areas face devastating economic impacts as fisheries are threatened and recreational uses are diminished.

The amount of water used by these power plants is also staggering; Collectively, steam-electric power plants have the capacity to withdraw more than 370 billion gallons per day in the US —more than 135 trillion gallons per year—from our nation’s waters for cooling. This accounts for 49% of all water use. That’s more water than all irrigation and public water supplies combined in the U.S.

Unfortunately, instead of stopping these giant fish blenders (aka, the power plants), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bowed to intense pressure from powerful industry interests. The EPA has decided not to require power plants to use the best technology available. Instead, EPA issued a proposed standard that largely maintains the status quo, offering little-to-no improvement in the technologies required to protect our waterways and our wildlife.

But there’s a solution. “Closed-cycle cooling” is the best technology available to reduce the impacts of cooling water systems and is both cost-effective and already in use across the country. Closed-cycle cooling reduces water intakes by approximately 95 percent, drastically reducing the amount of water needed for power plant operations, and resulting in a much less impact to fish and other species and the surrounding ecosystem.

But the cooling water guidelines currently proposed by the EPA will do little to address the devastation I’ve described and that we describe in our recently-released report “Giant Fish Blenders: How Power Plants Kill Fish & Damage Our Waterways (And What Can Be Done to Stop Them.”

We hope that the report will illuminate the harmful effects of once-through cooling on the health of our fisheries and waterways, and will encourage the EPA to require higher standards for these systems.

But you can help, too. Check out our Fish Blenders page to learn more and send an email to EPA and Administrator Lisa Jackson demanding that they require better cooling systems that won’t destroy aquatic life via a huge power plant blender.

Shortness of breath. Wheezing. Tightening of the chest. Coughing. These are just some of the symptoms of an asthma attack. If you’ve ever had one, you know the fear. If your child has ever had one, you know the terror. Asthma strikes 1 out of every 10 school children and is the number one illness that causes kids to miss school in the United States.

Now, if Lisa Jackson and the Environmental Protection Agency could do something to prevent thousands of asthma attacks every year – shouldn’t they do it? Nationwide, we’re seeing Americans stand up and call for pollution standards that will clean up our air and protect public health.

Just this week in Washington, DC, activists took to the sidewalks in front of EPA’s headquarters to urge the agency and the Obama Administration to immediately issue strong clean air protections.

Dressed in yellow ‘Beyond Coal’ t-shirts and displaying human-sized inhalers, the activists urged the EPA to stop postponing the announcement of the new safeguard that would reduce ground-level ozone pollution (also known as smog).

Late last month, the EPA pushed back its deadline for issuing the standard for the fourth time and has yet to set another date.

We’ve written about pollution and public health before. For example, Rosa’s story about her son and his asthma attacks. They live in the shadows of South Chicago’s two ancient, polluting coal-fired power plants. If you need more gripping stories from Americans suffering from the effects of coal’s air pollution – look no further than our asthma page.

Coal-fired power plants – along with cars – are a major source of pollution, causing asthma attacks and many other respiratory illnesses. The longer the Obama Administration delays the ozone standard, the longer children will suffer – especially on Code Red and Code Orange air pollution days, where people are encouraged to stay inside because of excessive air pollution.

Kids suffering asthma attacks; increased respiratory illnesses; more heart disease; more emergency room visits – How many more ways can we describe the urgent need for strong air pollution standards?

Join us in sending a message to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to issue a strong, science-based pollution standard immediately to clean up our air and protect our health.

This post was co-written by Sierra Club Conservation Director Sarah Hodgdon and Mary Anne Hitt, Director of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign.

As the Code Red air quality alerts continue during the heat wave across the country, many families face the fear of asthma attacks in a child or loved one, trigged by high levels of air pollution.

As a mom, I’ve been paying attention to air pollution alerts, and I’ve been cautious about letting my daughter play outside on Code Red days. One of the biggest sources of that air pollution is coal-fired power plants, which pose an especially immediate threat to our health on hot summer days when soot and smog levels are highest.

Burning coal for electricity pollutes our air with toxins that cause asthma, heart disease, and more. One of these pollutants is ozone, which is one of the key ingredients of smog. Yet many Americans still aren’t connecting the dots between coal and the smog pollution it creates. So I took to the TV airwaves yesterday to spread the news and call for action. We need stronger air pollution standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Here is an interview I did on the morning news in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

In the United States there is a 50% chance that your air is not safe to breathe – thanks to dangerous levels of air pollution like smog. Children are at greater risk from life-threatening exposure to smog because their lungs are still developing and because they are more likely to be active outdoors.

Even at very low levels, smog can cause asthma, reduced lung function, airway irritation and damage, increased respiratory infections, permanent lung damage, chest pain, wheezing, coughing, and even premature death – quite a disturbing list. In some parts of the country, the smog is so bad that the air is unhealthy to breathe on more than 100 days per year. This is just unacceptable – especially when we have the clean energy technology to make this pollution a thing of the past.

Smog irritates our lungs, triggers asthma attacks, increases emergency room visits and can lead to irreversible lung damage or even death. This summer, air pollution levels have been through the roof. The EPA is currently updating our smog standards, and we need to ensure they finalize stronger protections for our families.

Get informed and get active, folks. Tell EPA and President Obama that we need strong smog standards – it’s time to clean up coal pollution to protect our health.