Donate
Call the Lung HelpLine
Ask a Question
The following text field filters the results that follow as you type. Use Tab to access the results.
  1. Home
  2. Policy & Advocacy
  3. Federal Priorities for the 119th Congress
  4. Federal Priorities for the 119th Congress: Healthy Air

Federal Priorities for the 119th Congress: Healthy Air

Here are key actions the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Congress and other federal leaders must take to protect public health from air pollution and climate change:

Preserve & Support Clean Air Rules

2023 and 2024 saw huge wins for the public’s ability to breathe clean air. Multiple rules to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions were finalized that will, if implemented, save lives. National, state and local health organizations strongly support these rules to clean up pollution and look forward to the health benefits they will create. The Administration and Congress should resist industry calls to roll back or weaken clean air and climate protections.

  • Mercury leads to health harms for developing fetuses, children and adults and is emitted from power plants alongside cancer-causing hazardous air pollutants. Standards to limit mercury and air toxics from power plants have a long history of successful implementation and have led to marked reductions in hazardous air pollution. EPA should implement and enforce the stronger Mercury and Air Toxics Standards finalized in April 2024.
  • Carbon pollution from power plants is a major driver of climate change, which is a health emergency. EPA took steps that will cut more than a billion metric tons of carbon, which would also result in reductions of harmful oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter, avoiding at least 1,200 premature deaths in 2035 alone. EPA should implement and enforce the April 2024 rules to curb carbon from new gas-fired power plants and existing coal-fired power plants.
  • Gas-fired power plants emit harmful pollutants that endanger health, particularly in nearby communities. EPA should finalize rules proposed in November 2024 that will reduce dangerous NOx emissions from new turbines. 
    • Traffic pollution is linked to numerous lung and heart impacts. A transition to 100% zero-emission new passenger vehicles sales and non-combustion electricity generation could reach $978 billion in public health benefits and 89,300 fewer deaths by 2050. EPA should implement and enforce multi-pollutant standards for light-duty vehicles finalized in March 2024.
    • Trucks represent a small fraction of total on-road vehicles but generate the greatest share of harmful air pollutants. A transition to 100% zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles and non-combustion electricity generation could reach $735 billion in public health benefits and 66,800 fewer deaths by 2050. EPA should implement and enforce greenhouse gas standards for new trucks and buses finalized in March 2024 and the December 2022 rule to limit harmful NOx emissions from trucks.
  • Methane (“natural”) gas is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in its warming power as a greenhouse gas, and it is released from every stage of the oil and natural gas production process. Limits on methane and air pollutants released alongside methane are major steps to improve public health everywhere, especially in areas near oil and gas operations. EPA should implement and enforce the December 2023 final rule to limit pollution from new and existing oil and gas wells. 
  • In tandem with the EPA rule, additional actions to ensure oil and gas companies reduce emissions will further protect people’s health. The Methane Emissions Reduction Program provides financial support for industries to work towards reducing their pollution and holds them accountable when they continue to emit. The Administration and Congress should allow for implementation of the Methane Emissions Reduction Program. 
  • Methane leaks from pipelines are preventable with strong standards. Congress passed the bipartisan PIPES Act in 2020 requiring the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to carry out a rulemaking to address leak detection and repair programs. The Administration should finalize and implement PHMSA’s rule to reduce methane leaks.
  • Ozone can lead to asthma attacks, impaired breathing, developmental and reproductive harm and premature death. “State of the Air” 2024 found that more than 100 million live in areas with failing grades for ozone pollution. EPA must follow the law and strengthen the ozone standard to between 55-60 parts per billion (ppb).
  • EPA is also undertaking a review of the NAAQS for oxides of nitrogen, which also carry health risks. EPA must ensure a robust review of the science and set stronger NO2 standards.
  • EPA’s recently updated annual fine particle pollution (PM2.5) standard is expected to save 4,500 lives and prevent 800,000 cases of asthma symptoms, with estimated public health benefits totaling $46 billion. The NAAQS are health-based and have a decades long track record of success in cleaning up pollution. EPA must implement the new annual PM2.5 standard of 9 µg/m3 and set non-attainment designations using the standard by February 2026.
  • The Clean Air Act grants EPA authority to protect health from air pollution, including by issuing performance standards for stationary sources that cause or significantly contribute to air pollution. Residential heating appliances emit significant amounts of dangerous air pollution, including nitrogen oxides (NOx). EPA must review petition requests to set standards of performance for home heating appliances.
  • Pollution from long-haul, short-haul, commuter and industrial locomotives is a major threat to health. EPA last updated new emission standards for locomotives in 2008, and the nation’s locomotive fleet is dominated by much older – and higher emitting – engine classes. Cleaning up locomotive operations, and establishing more health-protective emission standards for new locomotives, is a key public health intervention that will remove massive doses of toxic air pollution from vulnerable communities while also advancing efforts to reduce regional pollution challenges. EPA take steps to address locomotive impacts nationwide.
  • Emissions from manufacturing facilities affect health in surrounding communities, including from the ways they generate heat to power their operations. Cleaner technologies are available. The Administration must take steps to drive a transition in manufacturing facilities to electric technologies, including heat pumps.

Implement the Inflation Reduction Act

The Inflation Reduction Act included critical investments in reducing air pollution, mitigating climate change and improving social determinants of health. Those investments have already been making a difference in communities across the country.

  • Tax credits for new and used electric vehicles expand consumers’ choices by giving them the option to more affordably purchase zero-emission vehicles. More than 70% of consumers support tax rebates to encourage the purchase of zero-emission vehicles. Congress should retain the tax credits for new and used electric vehicles as well as investments in electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
  • Transitioning to zero-emission, non-combustion electricity is a must-have for a healthier future. Health experts agree  – the world is rapidly approaching the point where people’s health needs due to climate change will dwarf the capacity of the health sector to respond. Congress should retain the investments in the production and deployment of clean electricity.
  • The Inflation Reduction Act included funding to clean up air pollution nationwide. Programs for reducing pollution in schools, in the nation’s port communities and in residential homes, as well as funding to accurately monitor levels of air pollution, will help achieve healthier air for all. Congress should retain the investments in the Inflation Reduction Act to monitor and clean up air pollution.

Defend Clean Air in Congress

Any legislative efforts to reduce emissions and protect the environment must prioritize health benefits, particularly for those who bear a disproportionate burden of the country’s air pollution.

  • Legislative efforts to weaken the Clean Air Act – driven by industry misinformation – are not new. Bills such as the Air Quality Standards Implementation Act, better called “The Smoggy Skies Act,” would gut the National Ambient Air Quality Standards and risk increases in chronic disease and premature death. Congress must reject any attempts to weaken the Clean Air Act or its implementation.
  • People rely on the Environmental Protection Agency to keep their families safe from toxins and pollution, and the agency needs adequate funding to carry out this critical health rule. Congress should appropriate adequate funding for EPA to carry out its duties to protect health from pollution and reject attempts to include policy riders in appropriations bills that would undermine the Clean Air Act or EPA regulations.
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides funding for states to address the specific health-related climate impacts their residents are facing through the National Center for Environmental Health. No state is spared from the impacts of climate change, but not every state has access to the federal funds to help public health departments respond. Congress should preserve the environmental health activities at CDC, including the Climate and Health program and the tracking program, and adequately fund its efforts.
  • Wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe, and their smoke is a huge health risk- threatening to reverse clean air progress. In addition to slowing the acceleration of climate change, there are proven tactics to mitigate catastrophic wildfires and their smoke impacts, such as prescribed fire. Additional measures including increased air quality monitoring, public outreach and notification systems, and provision of indoor air filtration, clean air spaces and respiratory protective equipment, especially for high-risk individuals, are crucial to protecting public health. In 2023, the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission outlined actions decision makers could take to address wildfires. Congress should pass legislation that follows the Commission’s report, with an emphasis on protecting public health from wildfire and prescribed fire smoke.

Protect, Improve, and Defend Indoor Air Quality

Americans spend an estimated 90% of time indoors, where they are exposed to concentrations of harmful pollutants two to five times higher than typical outdoor concentrations. While there are many things an individual can do to improve air quality within their own space, the government has a responsibility – and authority – to safeguard human health in the indoor environment. The Administration and Congress must not roll back or weaken appliance standards and other decarbonization measures that are critical for improving indoor air quality and safeguarding public health.

  • Current public housing regulations allow emit harmful pollutants. This disproportionately affects low-income residents who may lack the financial resources to manage impacts of exposure. The Department of Housing and Urban Development must promulgate new and revised rules to support building electrification and improve residential health in public housing and other government-assisted programs.
  • Buildings account for a large percentage of CO2 emissions, many of which come directly from appliances. The Department of Energy (DOE) has the authority to establish and amend minimum energy efficiency standards for more than 60 categories of appliances and equipment but has failed to keep up with both statutory deadlines and existing technology. DOE must implement and enforce efficiency standards for consumer and commercial appliances, particularly gas-powered appliances such as stoves, furnaces and clothes dryers. It must also continuously evaluate and amend test methods to ensure that requirements are representative of use in the real world.  

Keep Federal Agencies Grounded in Science

  • EPA and other federal agencies carry out their missions grounded in laws passed by Congress and using robust processes that ensure their rules are science-based and open to input from experts and the public. The Administration and Congress should reject attempts to restrict the science agencies can use or change the rulemaking process to make it harder to set standards that protect public health.

Page last updated: December 20, 2024

Fight For Air Climb - Columbus, OH
Columbus, OH | Feb 22, 2025 Fight For Air Climb - Cleveland, OH
Cleveland, OH | Mar 02, 2025
See All Events