Photo by iStockphoto.com/jetcityimage
As people across the country protest in defense of Black lives, the Trump Administration is proactively making it harder for low-income communities and communities of color to both clean up the smog pollution in their air and vote in the upcoming national election.
Ground-level ozone, informally known as smog, is formed when pollution from things like coal plants and fracked gas plants, as well as factories and tailpipes, mixes with heat or sunlight. When inhaled, smog irritates our airways, triggering asthma attacks, and increasing our risk of serious heart and lung diseases. These risks are why many cities monitor smog levels. On a high smog-alert day, for example, your eyes and throat may burn, and you may cough and wheeze. Reducing smog will protect Americans -- especially our kids, older adults, and people active outdoors.
Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA must set a smog standard that is protective of public health by incorporating the latest scientific and medical evidence. After five years of research and study, that evidence was strong enough for the EPA to set a more protective standard of no higher than 60 parts per billion. But Donald Trump and his EPA Administrator, Andrew Wheeler -- a former coal lobbyist -- ignored this evidence, instead choosing to maintain an outdated, less-protective smog standard. Keeping the smog standard at this unsafe level means that states and counties will not have to take steps to improve air quality.
The smog pollution proposal is the latest in a long list of Trump EPA decisions that will put our health at risk. Earlier this year, Wheeler issued a proposal to keep another outdated air pollution standard, for particle pollution or soot, in place. Both the smog and soot proposals have been introduced despite the growing evidence suggesting that Black Americans, Indigeneous people, and people of color experience higher risks of harm, including premature death, from exposure to air pollution. In fact, 70 percent of people who live in counties with failing grades for smog and soot pollution are people of color, according to the American Lung Association’s State of the Air Report.
Likewise, Trump’s political attack on the Postal Service this summer is disproportionately hurting low-income communities and communities of color. Historically, the USPS has been one of the largest employers of working-class communities and Black Americans, who also rely on the USPS for delivery of items like money orders, face masks, and life-saving medicines.
For months, Trump and his postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, have been working to hamstring the USPS and derail its essential services. They’ve cut staff hours and removed hundreds of mail-processing machines throughout the country. And, by derailing the mail-in voting many Americans will rely on to safely cast ballots this fall, they’re not only undermining the upcoming election, but also one of the most venerated parts of our government.
While DeJoy has pledged to stop his reckless scheme to sabotage the election, the results are already apparent to many of us. The anger, anxiety, and confusion he created have eroded the public’s faith in the USPS and could have lasting impacts on our most important government institutions.
Here at the Sierra Club, we’re not taking Trump’s moves lying down. We’re challenging the EPA’s smog pollution proposal, and we’ve joined a broad, diverse group of allies calling for a vigorous investigation into DeJoy’s confusing mail scheme.
To pay respect to the millions of USPS workers we rise in solidarity with, we’re mailing the EPA over 10,000 comments from people from across the country calling for a stronger smog-pollution standard. With this move, we hope to show the Trump administration that not only is their smog pollution proposal dangerous, but efforts to harm the USPS are unacceptable, especially in low-income communities and communities of color.
Smog pollution has plagued America for too long, and it has harmed communities of color the hardest due to redlining and other racist policies. That’s why we must now fight against efforts by fossil fuel interests to slow the progress of cleaning up our air once and for all. Join us in our fight to save the EPA and the USPS from the Trump administration’s indifference and incompetence.