SALT LAKE CITY — Members of Moms Clean Air Force testified Monday before the Environmental Protection Agency over plans to roll back protections on toxic air pollutants. More than 30 moms from 15 states condemned a Trump administration proposal to weaken the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard, called MATS, which sets limits on pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Elizabeth Ewaskio lives in Salt Lake City with her daughter and husband. She told the EPA her family faces the Salt Lake Valley's annual winter atmospheric inversion, which can turn the air quality from fair to dangerous.

"I'm six months pregnant. I have a 3 1/2 year-old and my husband is seriously asthmatic,” Ewaskio said. “Raising children in the Salt Lake Valley can be quite guilt-inducing as a parent. So, I'm really concerned with the proposed mercury and other toxic chemicals rollback."

Ewaskio said although the inversion is a natural phenomenon, the presence of four coal-fired power plants in Utah, including one in the Salt Lake Valley, contributes to the poor air quality there during the winter months. The plants emit mercury, a neurotoxic heavy metal that disrupts development of the fetal brain and harms toddlers and adults as well.

The MATS standard was put in place during the Obama administration. But Trump's EPA has claimed, based on a cost-benefit analysis, the rule is neither "appropriate" nor "necessary."

Ewaskio told the EPA pollution from the annual air inversion is an ever-present danger to her family.

"I would say it affects us greatly,” she said. “I teach skiing in the winter so that our family can get up into the mountains to breathe the clean air as much as possible. And I planned my pregnancy so that I could be in my second trimester during a particular time of year."

She said rolling back the MATS standards will likely mean an increase in illness and death.

"The MATS standard was implemented in 2011, and we've seen across the country an 80 percent decrease in mercury-related pollution,” Ewaskio said; “which has saved approximately 11,000 lives each year."

She added the EPA standards have protected families not only from mercury pollution, but also from other cancer-causing substances such as arsenic, lead, chromium and nickel.


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A successful program that helps low-income households weatherize homes and lower energy bills is setting its sights on improving the health outcomes of children and older Coloradans at risk of indoor and outdoor air pollution.

Ashley Feiertag, director of residential programs for Energy Outreach Colorado, spearheaded its Healthy Homes program, which recently won a $1-million dollar grant. She said the goal is to remove barriers for vulnerable households to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, improve indoor air quality, and reduce unsafe exposure to pollutants.

"In doing this we will help alleviate future health-care costs," she said. "We're also getting people signed up for community solar gardens. Those community solar credits help offset their utility bill."

Healthy Homes was one of three recipients of the ICLEI USA Action Fund, made possible through funding from Google, which aims to support innovative urban-based efforts to accelerate climate action through projects that are data-driven, highly replicable and impactful.

Feiertag said participating households will receive a thorough inspection of their home's energy efficiency, and experts will identify any sources of air pollution that can contribute to respiratory and other illness. In addition to adding harmful particulates to indoor air, appliances fueled by natural gas - including water heaters, furnaces, stoves and dryers - also contribute to climate pollution.

"So we're looking at replacing those with heat pump water heaters, air-sourced heat pumps, mini-split systems, induction stoves and electric dryers," Feiertag said.

Healthy homes has partnered with the City of Denver and area hospitals to identify those most in need of help. Feiertag hopes health-care providers will be able to write a prescription for these services for patients who are suffering from respiratory conditions, especially for families living in the shadow of highways, refineries and other persistent sources of air pollution.

"So if a person is experiencing asthma due to environmental factors, we will absolutely look at supplying them with a portable air cleaner," she said.

This story is based on original reporting by Elizabeth McGowan for Energy News Network, and is part of the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration

An environmental advocacy group in Virginia has been working to bridge generational gaps. Third Act Virginia began as a group of elder climate activists who found the third act of their lives as part of the fight against climate change. Originally called Elderpower, the group merged with the national climate change advocacy group Third Act.

Bill Muth, co-coordinator of Third Act Virginia, has been fighting for a better environment for years. Recently, he has been working with kids from Open High School and finds empowerment from watching these kids turn their anger into activism.

"It's a very complicated emotional thing to move to activism," Muth said. "You have to first get in touch with your grief and your anger, and then you have to transform it somehow. And, we're not good at that. We're not good at emotions at all. And I'm not talking about kids, I'm talking about us, adults."

One of the core challenges has been making change happen. With the campaigns for banks to put funding toward climate programs, the group was not getting as many signatures as they thought they would. Another issue has been getting people to understand what climate change is, as some people feel it's such a broad topic. In spite of this, Third Act Virginia has been successful since they were one group that got the city of Richmond to declare a climate emergency.

Given his long experience with climate advocacy, Muth has found young people are not necessarily interested in advice from older generations. Instead, young climate activists just want to be heard.

"They want space and resources to be heard," Muth said. They want to be able to go into City Hall and be heard. They want to know when there's new construction happening in their neighborhoods well in advance so they can review the potential impacts."

He is proud of the work young activists are doing and regrets how the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed their work. But, as the world adjusts to life with COVID, he finds activists are working to make up for lost time. Muth added he does not feel he has to inspire younger activists, but he can find people willing to join their cause and help them find resources.

The North Carolina Utilities Commission is expected to release its final Carbon Plan by the end of the year. Critics say the current plan, which includes major fossil-fuel investments, is a public-health threat to communities across the state.

Health Manager with CleanAIRE NC Kirsten Minor explained that in North Carolina, air pollution has been linked to nine out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's ten leading causes of death - from heart disease and cancer, to COVID and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

She pointed out that without drastically cutting air pollution, more residents will likely end up in the hospital.

"The strain that the COVID-19 pandemic placed on our healthcare systems," said Minor, "that strain will only be continued to be worsened by climate change if we don't, again, make a swift transition to renewable energy sources."

Minor added that the energy sector's burning of fossil fuels is one of the main sources of pollution, along with dangerous emissions like fine particle pollution known as PM 2.5, nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide.

An energy bill North Carolina lawmakers passed last year requires the state to develop a plan that reduces carbon emissions to 70% below 2005 levels by 2030, and reaches zero emissions by 2050.

Co-director of the Robeson County Cooperative for Sustainable Development, Rev. Mac Legerton, said especially coastal residents are experiencing firsthand the effects of a changing climate - including massive hurricanes, droughts, floods and heat stress.

He said he wants more people to educate themselves about the Carbon Plan and its implications for communities.

"Our elected officials and economic developers need to go back to school," said Legerton, "and begin to understand that the future is not where our utility companies want to take us."

Nearly 60% of adults in the U.S. say climate change is affecting their community, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey.