This post is written by NRDC Action Fund's Director of Communications Matt Howes.
Tuesday I went to Congress to meet with congressional staffers about protecting the air we breathe. And I wasn't alone. A total of 284 national and state medical society and public health groups and other clean air advocates are calling on Congress to defend the Clean Air Act. We want Congress to reject any measure that would block or delay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from doing its job to protect all Americans from life-threatening air pollution.
- Nearly half (46%) of the U.S. population lives in counties that have unhealthful levels of either ozone or particle pollution.
- One-third (33.4%) of the U.S. population lives in areas with unhealthful levels of ozone, a significant reduction since the last report, when nearly half did.
- Roughly one in three people (93.7 million) in the U.S. lives in an area with unhealthful short-term levels of particle pollution, a significant increase since the last report.
That's pretty bad. And corporations are lobbying to weaken those safeguards already in place. Unfortunately, they're often spin and misleading facts that are just plain wrong.
The air is very bad in Louisiana, where my mother lives. So it was great to meet with Senator Landrieu's staff and share my concerns.
How's the air where you live? Find out here.
Is it bad? You can call your Senators via the Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121 and let them know that it bothers you.
You can see a link to the ad that the coalition ran in DC papers here.