Sierra Club Submits More Than 57,000 Comments Demanding Wheeler Drop His Decision to Scrap Climate Safeguards

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sierra Club submitted 57,722 comments yesterday to former coal lobbyist and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler demanding that he drop his decision to try and scrap climate safeguards for new power plants. Sierra Club  organized tens of thousands of members and supporters to submit comments after the organization’s initial success in delivering hundreds of “Climate Valentines” for the sole hearing on Wheeler’s decision to scrape the safeguards, which took place on Valentine’s Day.   

“We will never back down in our fight to give our children a safe climate, clean air and water, and hope for the future,” said Mary Anne Hitt, Senior Director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. “Tens of thousands of Americans pushed back with one voice yesterday to show Andrew Wheeler that he is not only out of step with the law, but out of step with the American public.”

The thousands of comments that Sierra Club submitted were responding to Wheeler’s proposal for EPA to substantially weaken the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS). These standards were established under the Obama Administration and would require new power plants to cut carbon pollution for the first time. Despite clear market signals that the coal industry will not rebound even without the NSPS, coal companies have been vocal about scrapping the standards.

“Throwing out these important climate safeguards will not stop the coal industry’s decline, but it will be a major step backward in our country’s climate policy and create more pollution and suffering for America’s most vulnerable communities,” said Hitt. “Since Donald Trump was elected, 47 coal plants have retired and 48 have announced their retirement. We must focus on helping fossil fuel workers transition to new opportunities, not recklessly endanger the health of surrounding communities to placate a handful of coal industry billionaires.”