American Lung Association

The EPA’s Clean Air Act rule-making cycle could, for the first time, limit global warming emissions from existing power plants, leading to the retirement of some U.S. coal plants. Coal conglomerates and other opponents of clean, modern energy spend millions promoting the narrative that the EPA, and the Clean Air Act in particular, are "job killers" and that improvement in standards will stifle economic growth. The American Lung Association has put a human face on the issue and changed the narrative to one of support for healthy air as support for healthy children. It has played an important role alongside environmental groups as part of a broad Clean Air Act Defense Campaign. This grant will allow the Association, one of the most prominent U.S. public health organizations, to continue its work on clean air and climate change through its own activities and by engaging other leading public health and medical organizations.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a new regulation to limit global warming emissions from power plants. If a strong regulation and accompanying state plans are adopted, carbon pollution from power plants could be reduced 25 percent by 2020, and cut in half by 2030. While coal companies and their allies are vigorously attacking the EPA, the American Lung Association puts a human face on the issue and changes the narrative to one of support for healthy air. This grant would allow the Association, one of the most prominent U.S. public health organizations, to continue its work in support of clean air, climate action, and a strong EPA regulation for power plants.

The American Lung Association has long worked on reducing the health impacts associated with vehicle and industrial air pollution in the United States. This grant would allow it to expand its broader Healthy Air Campaign to achieve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s adoption of stronger, cleaner regulations of vehicle emissions and fuel quality, known as Tier 3. When fully implemented, Tier 3 will prevent 15,000 asthma attacks from particulate pollution in 2030 by dramatically reducing sulfur in U.S. gasoline.