For immediate release: June 21, 2012
Media Contacts:
David Di Martino, 202.247.7271, david@blueenginemedia.com
Keven Kennedy, 202.276.3159, keven@kevenkennedy.com
Washington, D.C. – Today, a broad coalition of groups supporting clean air safeguards announced they have collected more than two million comments in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Carbon Pollution Standard, which limits industrial carbon pollution from new power plants. The comments, totaling 2.1 million were collected over the past 10 weeks and the groups expect thousands more to be collected in the coming weeks. This unprecedented tally is the largest number of comments ever submitted to the EPA during a public comment period, and far exceeds the number of comments EPA has ever received on any prior issue.
The groups issued the following joint statement about the groundswell of support for the new EPA carbon pollution standard:
“We already knew that Americans strongly support the EPA’s efforts to address climate change and to reduce dangerous air pollution that threatens the health and safety of our children, communities, and wildlife. Doctors, scientists and other experts agree that carbon pollution threatens our health, plain and simple, by driving climate change which increases the formation of lung-damaging and asthma-attack inducing smog, which is particularly dangerous for kids and seniors. Climate change will also drive more deadly heat waves, floods and increase the spread of infectious diseases.
“But our expectations have been exceeded by the unprecedented support demonstrated by the more than 2 million comments from Americans who support EPA’s historic standard to curb dangerous industrial carbon pollution from new power plants while urging EPA to move forward with a strong standard for existing power plants. The message is clear: Americans want cleaner air and less industrial carbon pollution and they want EPA to protect their kids, their families and their communities from the dangerous effects of climate change.”
The following groups have gathered comments and signed onto the above statement:
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
American Sustainable Business Council
Care2
Center for American Progress Action Fund
Clean Air Council
Clean Water Action
Climate Reality Project
Climate Solutions
Democracy for America
Earthjustice
Energy Action Coalition
Environment America
Environmental Defense Fund
Fresh Energy
Greenpeace
Health Care Without Harm
Interfaith Power and Light
Leadership Center for the Common Good
League of Conservation Voters
League of Women Voters of the US
MomsRising
NAACP
National Audubon Society
National Hispanic Medical Association
National Wildlife Federation
Natural Resources Defense Council
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Presente.org
Sierra Club
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Union of Concerned Scientists
US Climate Action Network
Voces Verdes
World Wildlife Fund