To: Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
From: Patricia Rubert-Nason, Sierra Club Maine
Date: May 1, 2021
Re: Testimony in Support of LD 1532 - An Act To Protect Maine's Air Quality by Strengthening Requirements for Air Emissions Licensing
Chairman Brenner, Chairman Tucker and Members of the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. My name is Patricia Rubert-Nason, and I write on behalf of Sierra Club and the over 20,000 members and supporters in Maine. Founded in 1892, Sierra Club is one of our nation’s oldest and largest environmental organizations. We work diligently to amplify the power of our 3.8 million members nation-wide as we defend everyone's right to a healthy world. We would like to urge the committee to consider the cumulative impact of emissions sources on the people living nearby and evaluate how they can ensure that healthy air is available to everyone.
Everyone deserves to be able to breathe without worry about what is in the air or how it will impact their health. However, that is not the reality for many people, especially in communities with little or no political clout. Pollution is not distributed equally across our landscape. It is concentrated in low income communities and communities of color and leads to high rates of asthma and other illnesses within these communities. Everyone deserves to breathe freely. The Sierra Club stands with communities that suffer from environmental injustices in supporting stricter rules for emissions permitting, especially in residential areas.
Respectfully,
Patricia Rubert-Nason
Legislative Team Volunteer