GASP to EPA: Latest Emissions Regulations Rollbacks Put Polluters - Not People - First

GASP has been closely following the EPA's unprecedented assault on bedrock air quality regulations intended to reign in harmful emissions from some of America's largest industrial polluters and protect human and environmental health.

We've written extensively about these environmental rollbacks and have provided public testimony blasting the EPA for its failure to protect the American public and the air we all breathe while largely giving polluters a free pass.

On Friday, GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell provided public testimony at an EPA hearing regarding the latest rule change: The agency's repeal of emissions standards for power plants.

He spoke not only on behalf of GASP, but on behalf of all of our members. Here's what he told them:

Good afternoon. My name is Patrick Campbell, and I am executive director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution, or GASP. Since 1969, our nonprofit has worked to improve air quality in southwestern Pennsylvania.

GASP strongly opposes EPA’s proposed repeal of federal emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants and future gas-fired power plants.

EPA has a clear duty under the Clean Air Act: protect public health and the environment. Repealing these safeguards would move the agency in the wrong direction.

Abandoning EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases and power plant pollution would undo decades of progress. Combined with efforts to reverse the Endangerment Finding, eliminating federal limits on power plant climate pollution would violate the letter and spirit of the law.

The World Health Organization makes the stakes clear. Extracting and burning fossil fuels drives climate change and air pollution. WHO reports that household and outdoor air pollution cause about 7 million premature deaths each year. It also projects that climate change will cause about 250,000 additional deaths per year between 2030 and 2050 from heat stress, malnutrition, and malaria alone – some of those additional deaths will include U.S. citizens.

Cutting emissions protects both the climate and public health and saves lives.

Southwestern Pennsylvania has carried the burden of coal- and gas-fired power plant pollution for generations. GASP has challenged delays and rollbacks involving regional polluters, including the Conemaugh, Keystone, and the Tenaska Westmoreland gas facility.

EPA data show the scale. In 2023, Conemaugh emitted 2.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Keystone emitted 2.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, and Tenaska emitted 2.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. Together, those three plants released nearly 8.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in one year.

Our residents already face elevated rates of respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, and childhood asthma associated with industrial air pollution. Removing federal oversight would keep outdated, high-polluting operations running longer, worsening local air quality and adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

The burden is not shared equally. Low-income neighborhoods, communities of color, and people living near polluting facilities bear the greatest risks. Environmental justice means putting their health ahead of the convenience and profits of polluters.

If EPA repeals these standards, vulnerable communities will keep paying for electricity with their lungs, their health, and their quality of life. GASP urges EPA to reject these rollbacks, maintain strong federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, and fulfill its duty to protect public health and the environment.

Thank you.