September 30, 2022
WASHINGTON, D.C. --Environmental Defense Fund and Sierra Club served a formal notice of intent on the U.S.
In the United States, low income Black and Brown communities are already more likely to suffer the impacts from permitted pollution from petroleum facilities and other polluting industries. In addition to these known and well documented disparities, regulators have allowed for even more pollution to be released onto these overburdened communities through regulatory loopholes in the Clean Air Act known as Startup, Shutdown, Malfunction, (SSM) leaving communities exposed to dangerous levels of toxic air pollution from multiple sources. Sierra Club and partners are working to ensure EPA implements strong rule-making that eliminates SSM loopholes and prioritizes the most impacted people by upholding equal protection laws. Dozens of community and environmental groups have called on President Biden to close SSM loopholes and end free passes to pollute.
EPA allows facilities like power plants and factories to emit as much pollution as they like during periods of Start-up, Shutdown, and Malfunctions. The amount of pollution emitted during so-called “SSM events” can be 100s to 1000s of times higher than normal operations.
- Read how SSM loopholes can effect communities.
- Learn more about the SSM loopholes in this fact sheet.
- Read the letter to President Biden: Protect Fenceline Communities
Watch and Take Action
Did you know that there are deadly loopholes in the EPA and state Clean Air Act rules? The Startup, Shutdown, and Malfunction loopholes allow polluters to ignore their permitted emission limitations -- and of course they take advantage of this! The consequences are even more deadly air pollution dumped on communities near plants and factories -- who already suffer the greatest burden from these poisons. It's time to close the loopholes! The Sierra Club has partnered with Earthjustice and community activists to create a video to shed light on this issue, and galvanize action to close the SSM loopholes.
Press Releases
August 23, 2022
Twenty-six health, environmental, and consumer protection groups formally petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today to protect public health from dangerous outdoor air pollution fossil fuel-fired heating appliances.
June 8, 2022
Sierra Club and other public health and environmental groups sued EPA to ensure that the agency takes timely action to reduce ozone pollution across the country. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, on behalf of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Downwinders at Risk, HEAL Utah, and Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice.
April 29, 2022
Washington, DC – Late yesterday, President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) followed the Trump administration in releasing a draft policy assessment proposing to retain the nationwide ozone standards without revision.
7 de marzo de 2022
La Agencia Federal de Protección Ambiental (EPA) anunció una propuesta para reducir las emisiones de camiones pesados, una fuente significativa de contaminación del aire que impacta desproporcionadamente a latinos y otras comunidades de color.
2 de febrero de 2022
El Washington Post informa hoy que la Agencia de Protección Ambiental (EPA) y el Consejo de Calidad Ambiental de la Casa Blanca enviaron hoy cartas al Servicio Postal urgiendo a la agencia a que reconsidere sus planes de comprar un 90% de vehículos de combustión interna en su próxima adquisición.
31 de enero de 2022
La Agencia de Protección Ambiental (EPA) anunció hoy una propuesta para revertir la decisión de la administración Trump de eliminar resultados “apropiados y necesarios” para regular el mercurio y otros compuestos peligrosos procedentes de las plantas térmicas de carbón.
20 de diciembre de 2021
La Agencia de Protección Ambiental (EPA) anunció hoy su regla final de estándares de limpieza de vehículos, la cual reducirá las emisiones del sector transporte y protegerá la salud pública y el clima reforzando el rigor de emisiones a partir de vehículos de 2023 a 2026.
November 22, 2021
EL PASO, TX -- Late last week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated its ozone designation of El Paso, Texas, to nonattainment, indicating that the region does not meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards for this dangerous air pollutant. The American Lung Association ranks El Paso 13th on its list of the most smog-polluted metropo
25 de mayo de 2021
Un nuevo reporte emitido hoy reveló preocupantes niveles de los compuestos tóxicos PFAS (per- y polyfluoralkyl) en productos fertilizantes domésticos ampliamente usados en Estados Unidos.