FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2018
Contact:
Cara Cook, Climate Change Program Coordinator, ANHE
585.469.2383
cara@envirn.org
Nurses Oppose the Trump Administration’s Efforts to Dismantle the Clean Power Plan
Washington, D.C. (August 21, 2018)— Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Acting Administrator Wheeler announced the Trump Administration’s proposal to replace the 2015 Clean Power Plan with the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which seriously weakens regulations on harmful emissions from power plants. In response to this announcement the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments’ Executive Director, Katie Huffling, MS, RN, CNM issued the following statement:
“By setting strong standards to regulate carbon emissions from power plants and encouraging investments in clean energy technologies, the 2015 Clean Power Plan provides vital public health protections and necessary action to address climate change. Replacing the Clean Power Plan with a much weaker standard, as this proposal outlines, will be woefully inadequate in protecting the health of American’s against the harms of air pollution and climate change.
“The replacement plan proposed today jeopardizes the climate and health benefits that would be realized under full implementation of the Clean Power Plan, such as preventing as many as 4,500 premature deaths, 90,000 asthma attacks in children, and 1,700 heart attacks per year.
“To protect our communities and the public, the United States must significantly reduce carbon pollution that worsens climate change. The proposal announced today would recklessly place the health and safety of our communities – especially communities who are disproportionately impacted by pollution – at risk. The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments strongly opposes this proposal and will continue to oppose any plan that results in weaker climate and health protections.”
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The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments is the only national nursing organization focused solely on the intersection of health and the environment. The mission of the Alliance is to promote healthy people and healthy environments by educating and leading the nursing profession, advancing research, incorporating evidence-based practice, and influencing policy.
