Paul Billings plans to retire from the American Lung Association after decades advocating for clean air.
Billings, 58, will soon step down from his role as the association’s national senior vice president for public policy, he said Monday in an interview. He’s exiting after more than 30 years with the clean air and public health advocacy group. His official last day is Oct. 16.
“I’m very proud of the work that we’ve done to improve the air we breathe,” Billings said.
“If you look at the trends of reductions in criteria [air] pollutants over the last 35 years, since the 1990 [Clean Air Act] amendments passed, we’ve seen dramatic progress,” he said. Tougher rules to clamp down on emissions from sources including motor vehicles, power plants and the oil and gas sector have “contributed to significantly improve the air everyone breathes.”
