The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is falling far behind on eight key rules to cut power plant pollution — like the flagship carbon pollution rule to address global warming. That rule has already been delayed twice. Every delay means US power plants continue business-as-usual operations, contaminating our air and water, and having enormous impacts on our health, according to this recent report.

These delays have real-life health impacts on the American people, especially communities of color. Waiting to finalize rules on power sector pollution will mean exposing people around the country to more dangerous pollution that we know contributes to tens of thousands of premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of illnesses every year, while the climate crisis worsens.

Sign the petition to tell the EPA: Please Stop Smoking! The EPA must stop consequential delays on its power sector regulations and be moving further, faster—not falling further behind.

Failure to do so means the President will not meet his campaign promises and could leave recent climate progress vulnerable to a future hostile Administration.

Four Things EPA Needs To Do NOW:

1. Strengthen the soot standard for power plants. The proposal released does not go far enough and fails to meet the recommendations of the EPA’s own scientific advisory panel.
2. No more delays. Complete all climate pollution rules by the end of 2023, including carbon standards for power plants, updating mercury standards based on latest technology, and closing coal ash loopholes.
3. Approve California’s Vehicle Emissions Waiver. Truck manufacturers are pressuring the EPA to partially deny the waiver, which would stall the implementation of two California clean trucks regulations. EPA has signaled they would approve the full waiver however the EPA has been delaying full approval thus far.
4. Implement cumulative impact analysis in permitting. Last October, the EPA released a final report detailing recommendations for the Office of Research and Development’s cumulative impacts research. The agency recognizes the importance of this research approach however has not publicly committed to using cumulative impact analysis when approving permits for infrastructure projects.