In the last two years, we've seen dozens of administrative "rules'' (otherwise known as regulations, or standards). These rules are issued by governmental agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. Recent rules to protect our air, water, ecosystems, and climate include:

🏞️ A public lands rule that will create a new vision to protect public lands, waters, and wildlife from more drilling and mining.        
🏭 A carbon pollution rule that will limit pollution from existing coal-fired power plants and new gas plants. This will reduce climate emissions that go into our atmosphere.        
🚗 Two transportation rules to increase clean cars and trucks. They will help shift our transportation from being the largest source of pollution to a climate solution.        
💨 A Soot Rule that will protect our communities from soot from fossil fuels. Soot is a dangerous climate and air pollutant responsible for over 10,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. 

Learn more about recent rules from Sierra magazine here.

But what is a rule and who makes them?

Dozens of federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bureau of land Management (BLM), Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of the Interior (DOI), and are part of the executive branch of our government.

When a new President takes office, they appoint the heads of these federal agencies. For the most part, agencies then make decisions based on the presidential administration's platform and propose regulations to support it.

Presidents use rulemaking to advance their agenda and initiatives. These actions are rooted in authority from Congress. Congress writes the laws, and it is the agencies' job to put them into place. For example, the Clean Air Act, passed by Congress, gives the EPA authority to set health standards for carbon dioxide, soot, ozone, sulfur dioxide, and dozens of other toxic air pollutants.

Environmental rules are critical for protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, reducing climate emissions, and more. This is a key way that the government moves forward its efforts to protect the planet for future generations. 

How do everyday people influence rules?

• When a government agency, like the EPA, is considering new regulation changes that could affect our air, water, climate, or lands, they propose a "rule."
• They then invite feedback through public comment periods on that proposal to get a pulse on public opinion and use that to inform their decisions. Your comments tell the story of how these issues affect our communities and push decision makers to consider our concerns.
• Based on that feedback, the agency updates their proposal. Agencies review all the comments submitted. An overwhelming show of support, and especially personal support, is necessary to ensure strong final rules. We have heard directly from public officials that they are more likely to actually read personalized messages. Sometimes they even respond! (That's why we always ask you to add a sentence or two as a personal message. Stories make statistics come to life and move people in a way that numbers and facts sometimes don't.)
• The agency then issues a final rule that they will publish to the federal register, with a timeline of when the rule will go into effect.  

Each of these recently finalized rules wouldn't have happened without the work of thousands of advocates around the country. When enough of us speak up, we make clear to these agencies how important strong rules are for our health and our future. Our actions put pressure on the government to get to work. They also help the administration to push back against lobbying from powerful special interests like the oil and gas industry.

Every comment, email forwarded, and in-person or virtual hearing attended helps build the groundswell of public pressure to protect our environment and health.