Clean Air Council shares the problem and how to take action.

This week city public health officials and advocates came together to oppose Trump’s damaging proposal to allow uncontrolled methane pollution from oil and gas facilities. We emphasized what we’re doing locally to reduce the causes and impacts of climate change and why we need the federal government to do the same. 

The Trump Administration directed the Office of Management and Budget to approve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s complete removal of methane from the 2015 New Source Performance Standards for oil and gas facilities by late July. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts that 2020 has a 75 percent chance of being the hottest year on record in the United States since records began in 1880, beating 2016. Methane leaks out of every facet of the natural gas industry and is 87 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over a 20-year-time period. 

Low-income neighborhoods of color, lacking tree cover and access to parks, suffer most from extreme heat. There can be a 22-degree heat differential between parts of the city with and without trees. 

Hear from:

• Physicians for Social Responsibility Interim Director Dr. Walter Tsou
• Director of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability Christine Knapp
• Hunting Park Community Garden Coordinator and Drink Philly Tap Ambassador Michael Wilcox
• Clean Air Council Executive Director and Chief Counsel Joseph Otis Minott, Esquire

Click here for the full video!

The current COVID-19 pandemic puts further emphasis on the need to address extreme heat. During extreme heat events in urban areas like Philadelphia, many residents depend on public spaces, like libraries and community centers, for air conditioning. Current social distancing requirements will not allow for this, creating great concern about how residents will cope with the extreme heat caused by climate change during the current pandemic. We need the federal government to address this public health crisis. The effects of climate change increase the difficulty of providing needed services during the current pandemic.

Please email Russell Zerbo at rzerbo@cleanair.org for more information and opportunities to take further action.

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Russell Zerbo is the federal advocacy coordinator at the Clean Air Council. He likes to participate in comment periods and write letters to the editor. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2011 with a degree in government. View all posts by Russell Zerbo