The Trust for America’s Health, a non-profit, non-partisan organization in Washington D.C. working to make disease prevention a national priority, likes the EPA’s new carbon emissions rules.
The Executive Director of the Trust for American’s Health, Dr. Jeffrey Levi, says he’s pleased that the EPA is moving forward with plans to issue carbon pollution standards for existing power plants. He says, the nation is already experiencing longer allergy seasons and record temperatures due to climate change and pollution, and without urgent action to control carbon pollution, communities across the country are at-risk for further negative health effects.
Levi says the proposal also marks another critical step in President Obama’s Climate Action Plan because it comes on the heels of the recently released National Climate Assessment, which was the latest in a string of actions to address the serious effects climate change is having on the nation’s health.
Levi notes that the Trust for America’s Health is seeing more illnesses, injuries, and health problems related to extreme weather events, rising temperatures and worsening air quality all stemming from natural disasters, reduced water resources, and new insect-based infectious diseases that, previously, were only affiliated with regions with very high temperatures.