FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 3rd, 2017
Contact: Brooke Havlik, 212-961-1000 ext. 320, brooke@weact.org
New York, NY — The EPA announced today that the agency will back down on Administrator Scott Pruitt’s attempts to delay implementing life-saving ozone and smog standards nationwide. This comes after WE ACT, alongside public health and environmental groups, took legal action against the agency last month for their proposed delay. 15 states and DC filed their own legal actions to prevent any further delay earlier this week.
Delaying stronger regulations posed a threat to the health of communities of color nationwide, who already bear the disproportionate burden of dirty air. In the U.S., Black and Puerto Rican children suffer from asthma, asthma attacks, and hospitalizations at a higher rate than white children. Black Americans are three times more likely to die from asthma, and more black women have died from asthma than any other group. Today’s announcement signals that Pruitt’s EPA must comply with the rule’s original October 1st deadline.
In response to the EPA’s reversal on ozone and smog standards, WE ACT Deputy Director Cecil Corbin-Mark has released the following statement:
“Trump and Pruitt’s push to weaken clean air rules would mean more communities of color and low-income people could be threatened by environmental injustices. But today, the asthmatic child in Harlem has won. The parent with a respiratory illness in Washington Heights can breathe a little easier. It gives us hope and the energy to keep pushing forward in the fight for equal and clean air. We want to thank New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and all other parties involved for their relentless efforts to stop this delay—our collective resistance has made an impact in the health and future of our kids.”