Green the Church, National Medical Association, WE ACT for Environmental, the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition, Congress Call on Administrator Zeldin to Protect People, Not Polluters
WASHINGTON –This week environmental advocates and grassroots leaders from across the country stood united with congressional champions in opposition to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s Polluters First Agenda. The agenda threatens to dismantle over 50 years of lifesaving progress protecting our air, water, land, and climate.
More than 190 climate, clean energy, environmental justice, and public health organizations released a joint statement decrying Zeldin’s attempts to roll back dozens of clean air, clean water, and environmental protections, including the science-based, court-affirmed finding requiring EPA to protect public health by limiting carbon and other pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
The statement reads: “Administrator Zeldin and the Trump administration are proposing a plan that will strip away pollution protections at the same time it gives a green light to the greatest increase in pollution in decades. As we get sicker, miss more work days, lose our jobs, and deal with extreme costs, polluting industries would get a free pass. The consequences will be felt by people of color, low-income communities, and those on the frontlines the most.”
Along with the statement, the Climate Action Campaign (CAC) and its partners, including Green The Church, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, the National Medical Association, Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition, and Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, have mobilized more than 50,000 individuals from across the nation to oppose Trump and Zeldin’s efforts to undermine the EPA’s mission to safeguard the environment and public health.
“When the EPA rolls back protections, it doesn’t just deregulate policies—-it deregulates dignity, health, and hope in our Black communities,” said Rev. Ambrose Carroll—founder of Green the Church. “We aren’t collateral damage. We are God’s children and have the divine right to breathe clean air and drink clean water. Our health can’t be sacrificed for profits by polluters.”
The statement and petition were released during an event on Capitol Hill with the lead Democrats on the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee and House Energy & Commerce Committee ranking members and the eight Members of Congress comprising leadership of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC), who led a bicameral letter backed by 180 Members of Congress, including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, calling out the Trump administration’s blatant betrayal of the EPA’s mission.
CAC director Margie Alt applauded the Members’ actions to hold the Trump administration including Zeldin accountable. “Lee Zeldin isn’t leading the EPA, he’s dismantling it brick by brick, dollar by dollar, and person by person. These proposed rollbacks won’t help families or create a safer climate; they will give polluters a gold-plated free pass to harm our communities. Thanks to the Members of Congress who join us in refusing to let Trump and Zeldin and their friends in polluting industries get away with it.”
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