Latinos are disproportionately affected by the health impacts of oil and gas development and carbon and other pollutants which would be regulated by the EPA under the Clean Power Plan. A report by the National Hispanic Medical Association and LULAC, found that “the air in many Latino communities violates air quality standards for ozone. More than one in four people in the U.S. live in areas that violate the federal air pollution standard for ozone. This includes over 23 million Latinos -- more than one in three Latinos in the U.S. Many Latino communities face an elevated risk of cancer due to toxic air emissions from oil and gas development.”
“The Clean Power Plan is a public health policy that is critical to safeguarding clean air in our communities. We have a moral obligation to protect the health of the environment for future generations -- maintaining the Clean Power Plan is a step towards a future of healthy, vibrant and sustainable communities,” said Maite Arce, president and CEO of Hispanic Access Foundation.
A recent Yale University study entitled: Climate Change in the Latino Mind found that 84 percent of Latinos in the U.S. supported regulating carbon pollution. Latinos expect their public resources, including the regulating power of the EPA to address carbon pollution emissions, to be used in productive, cost-effective ways that help to raise the overall standard of living for all Americans. EPA analysis projects that Americans will save about $7 per month and more than $80 per year on their electricity bill by 2030 under the Clean Power Plan. EPA projections also show that electricity bills will rise modestly by 2.4 to 2.7 percent in 2020, but then decline by 2.7 to 3.8 percent in 2025, and 7 to 7.7 percent in 2030 as investments in energy efficiency pay off.
“It is the right of all Americans, including Latinos, to live in environmentally safe and economically vibrant communities,” said Pastor Martin Martinez-Sandoval, leader with Calvary Chapel Assembly of God and a member of Por La Creación Faith-based Alliance in Los Angeles, California. “EPA Administrator Pruitt has a responsibility to protect the health of Americans and for this reason we urge him to uphold and implement the Clean Power Plan.”
The EPA has extended the public comment period till April 26, 2018 and added public listening sessions in San Francisco, CA, Gillette, WY, and Kansas City, MO. Comments can be submitted online at www.regulations.gov under docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0355.
“The Clean Power Plan is a win for the American public -- it protects our health and ensures that future generations will have clean air,” said Arce. “Maintaining the Clean Power Plan would be a declaration by this Administration that all Americans, including the 1.81 million Latinos who live within a half mile of existing oil and gas facilities, deserve to breathe clean air.”