Democratic lawmakers donned white coats and appeared with fellow medical professionals Wednesday at a press conference to underscore how EPA’s efforts to revoke rules limiting climate pollution could harm public health.
Minnesota Rep. Kelly Morrison, who worked as an obstetrician for more than 20 years before being elected to Congress, described how wildfire smoke from Canada worsened air quality in her home state this summer, saying, “People couldn’t even be outside because the wildfire smoke was so bad, we couldn’t breathe the air.
“Climate pollution isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s a public health emergency, and protections against pollution aren’t just for the environment, they are essential for our health,” said Morrison, who is one of six members of the Congressional Doctors Caucus.
The press conference was held in response to a July proposal from the Trump administration to withdraw the so-called 2009 endangerment finding that determined greenhouse gases endanger public health through causing climate change, which leads to more frequent and intense heat waves and wildfires that can sicken people. The finding cleared the path for regulating climate pollution from sources such as power plants and vehicles. The Trump administration is repealing many of those rules.
