Update
Thank you to all of you who contacted Governor Newsom and your legislators! California’s environmental rules aren’t going anywhere.
“It’s not a moment for people to take advantage and try to throw out rules they didn’t like anyway,” said Kate Gordon, director of the governor’s office of planning and research and Newsom’s senior advisor on climate. “…in terms of this being a moment we use to kind of backtrack all of our regulations. That’s not happening.”
California has taken a leading role in addressing the air pollution and climate crises, setting standards that have often provided models for the rest of the country and the rest of the world. But some of the state’s biggest polluters are using the COVID-19 public health emergency as an excuse to weaken these protections.
Air pollution damages our health in many ways, including by contributing to and increasing the severity of respiratory illness. People with respiratory illnesses are at a higher risk of becoming critically ill with COVID19, and many Californians with respiratory illnesses are concerned about what that will mean for their health. Those at greatest risk for harm include children, the elderly, and those with lung and heart disease.
We need you to email Governor Newsom, your state Assemblymember, and your State Senator today to urge them not to delay or weaken standards that protect our public health, our air, and our climate.
While the Trump Administration continues, even during this crisis, to roll back sensible standards at the behest of polluters, California must stand firm in defense of public health. California has shown leadership in opposing the rollbacks coming from the federal government, and we need our governor and legislature’s leadership more than ever during this emergency.
Read our full letter to Governor Newsom, Assembly Speaker Rendon, and Senate President pro tem Atkins, and share this alert below:
