Toxic Air Pollution
 Toxic air pollution damages our natural environment and jeopardizes public health. Once released into the air, toxins build up in the environment and work their way up the food chain, eventually ending up in the food we eat. Eating contaminated food, like fish, and breathing contaminated air can cause cancer, birth defects and other serious health problems.
In 1970 the Clean Air Act was passed to help protect people from these dangerous air toxins, officially known as hazardous air pollutants (or HAPs). The Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to control 187 different types of toxic pollutants to ensure healthy, breathable air for everyone.
To control toxic air pollution the EPA first determines the source of the pollution, such as power plants or cement kilns, and then determines what actions the sources need to take to help reduce the amount of toxic pollution they release into the air. EPA's standards are meant to ensure that power plants and other sources of toxic pollution implement the greatest reductions possible of the air toxics, or the maximum achievable level. Periodically the EPA must review the standards to make sure they continue to protect public health and incorporate modern improvements in technology.
The Sierra Club is committed to cleaning up our nation's air and reducing exposure to air toxics. From keeping EPA on schedule to fighting weak standards to cleaning up big polluters, like coal-fired power plants, we work with communities to make a difference. After all, every day should be a clean air day.
Feature: Power Plant Poisons Under-the-Radar
One of the largest sources of air pollution is our nation's fleet of aging power plants. Burning fossil fuels like coal leads to poor air quality, degraded waters, mercury pollution, and acid rain among others.
 The link between air pollution and power plants.
Feature: Clearing the Air of Poisoning
When Congress amended the Clean Air Act in 1990, it built into the law new timelines and targets for cleaning up our nation's air. Unfortunately, the EPA has spent the last decade dragging its feet rather than acting, and is long overdue in setting many standards that would help keep toxic pollution out of our air.
Partnering with Earthjustice, Sierra Club has been working to right these wrongs. In late August, we racked up a huge victory when a federal judge ordered the EPA to get to work on the regulations and start protecting millions of Americans from poisonous air.
Read more about the August court ruling.
Find out more about what our Environmental Law Program is doing on air issues.
Read a GAO report detailing how EPA has been falling down on its job.
Feature: The Dirty Facts About Dry Cleaning
 Despite scientific evidence pointing to the adverse health effects of perchloroethylene, the EPA has decided to allow the continued use of this highly toxic chemical in dry cleaners across the country.
Also known as perc or PCE, perchloroethylene poses an increased risk to those who live near or work in dry cleaners, possibly even leading to an increased risk of cancer. Fortunately, there are cleaner, safer technologies available, and many dry cleaners have already successfully made the switch to greener cleaning.
Learn more about the dangers of perc and ways we can limit our exposure.
Feature: Mercury
 Mercury is a developmental toxin that can affect babies developing in the womb and, at much higher doses, can lead to serious health effects for adults. Coal-fired power plants are the largest single man-made source of mercury pollution in the country, and the largest unregulated source of mercury in the United States. When the plants release mercury into our air, it rains down into our lakes, rivers and streams. The toxic mercury then makes its way to our dinner tables via contaminated fish.
 Learn more about how mercury can harm our health and steps we can take to protect ourselves and the environment.
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