From health care experts and elected officials to faith leaders and the private sector, voices from the America Is All In coalition are urging the EPA to reverse course on its proposed repeal of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for fossil fuel-fired power plants. In public comments submitted this week, they warned that dismantling these safeguards would endanger public health, destabilize the clean energy economy, and undermine the country’s ability to address the climate crisis. Read more below:

States

The U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of 24 governors who together represent approximately 60 percent of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the U.S. population, stated:

We strongly oppose this proposal’s departure from past precedent and abandonment of EPA’s legal obligation to safeguard public health and welfare from air pollutants.

"The Alliance’s members are demonstrating through a suite of state-level policies and actions that we can successfully protect Americans from carbon pollution and deliver cleaner electricity at the same time we meet growing energy demand, create good-paying jobs, and lower energy costs. It is a false choice to suggest the United States must choose between safeguarding clean air and meeting the country’s need for affordable, reliable, and resilient power. Our states are proving we can do both. Between 2005 and 2022, Alliance members collectively added nearly 200 GW of new generation capacity to meet energy demand — while at the same time reducing carbon pollution in the electricity sector by 40 percent, lowering economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 19 percent, growing their economies by 30 percent, and delivering lower levels of harmful air pollutants than the rest of the country."

Cities

Together in a joint comment letter, Climate Mayors, C40 Cities, and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, stated:

Contrary to EPA’s assertion that power sector GHG emissions do not contribute significantly to dangerous air pollution, these emissions have tremendously significant fiscal and public health impacts felt in cities across the country. 

"A recent analysis from the New York University School of Law found that just one year of U.S. power sector emissions would directly cause nearly $370 billion in damages and thousands of premature deaths. The brunt of these impacts have been, and will continue to be, borne in cities. EPA’s proposal does not adequately account for the harms that befall U.S. cities and local communities as a result of GHG emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants."

Climate Mayors is a bipartisan network of nearly 350 mayors who demonstrate climate leadership through meaningful actions in their communities. Representing 46 states and nearly 60 million Americans, Climate Mayors reflects U.S. cities’ commitment to climate progress.

C40 is a global network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities, including 14 cities in the United States, that are united in action to confront the climate crisis. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to cutting their fair share of emissions in half by 2030 and building healthy, equitable and resilient Communities.

The Sabin Center develops legal techniques to combat the climate crisis and advance climate justice, and trains the next generation of leaders in the field. The Sabin Center’s Cities Climate Law Initiative works with city legal departments and sustainability offices, and the networks that link them together, to provide key resources to efficiently and effectively address legal questions confronting the urban climate transition.

Health Care Organizations

Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), founded in 1996, works with health systems in the U.S. to reduce waste, improve sustainability, and build resilient facilities and communities. They stated the following:

We strongly oppose repealing the federal standards that limit greenhouse gas pollution from power plants. These standards were developed to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the country’s second-largest source of these emissions and to protect public health. 

"They were based on the latest health science and are required under the Clean Air Act. Eliminating these safeguards would represent a substantial step backward in the effort to reduce pollution-related health harms and prevent the worst climate change impacts from occurring."

"Many healthcare organizations are making strong commitments to reduce their greenhouse gases through energy efficiency and clean energy. They are finding that such commitments are yielding a significant return on investment in terms of financial savings, employee retention and satisfaction, and improvements in community health. With the right investments, the health care sector is poised to play a leading role in promoting climate solutions that reduce costs as well as the health burdens for all Americans. Health Care Without Harm urges the EPA to retain and strengthen, rather than repeal, the carbon pollution standards for power plants.”

HCWH's membership network, Practice Greenhealth - covering 1,500 health care organizations nationwide - is the U.S. health care sector’s go-to source for information, tools, data, resources, and expert technical support on how to reduce operational expenses and improve care through sustainability and emergency preparedness initiatives.

Faith Groups

On behalf of the undersigned organizations and hundreds of thousands of members and supporters, co-led by Creation Justice Ministries and the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, they stated in a joint comment letter that:

The proposal claims carbon pollution from power plants does not significantly contribute to climate change. This claim blatantly ignores overwhelming scientific evidence and data. As people of faith, we believe that we must honestly and humbly encounter the reality of the world around us.

“People of faith submitted hundreds of public comments in support of these standards just last year, alongside over 1 million Americans, because we believe in the moral call to be healers of God’s Earth and to protect communities in harm's way. We urge you to not weaken these critical, life-saving safeguards.”

Businesses

Ceres, a nonprofit advocacy organization working to accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more just, and resilient economy, shared the following in a quote:

Time and time again, we have seen that policy certainty drives investment and innovation. Strong but pragmatic standards provide a stable business environment that produces cutting-edge technologies and business efficiencies – not only improving public health and reducing pollution but also bolstering U.S. competitiveness and economic growth, said Anne Kelly, vice president of government relations, Ceres. 

“The EPA must maintain these power plant standards to support progress and investment in American innovation to ensure the U.S. stays at the forefront of energy technology in a changing global economy.”

With data-driven research and expert analysis, Ceres inspires investors and companies to act on the world's sustainability challenges and advocate for market and policy solutions. Together, our efforts transform industries, unlock new business opportunities, and foster innovation and job growth – proving that sustainability is the bottom line. For more information, visit ceres.org.