Updated 07.19.12
Religious community representative appears at Sacramento EPA hearing on soot rule. Click here to download press release.
Under pressure from a court order and years of research, the Environmental Protection Agency last month announced new limits on industrial particle pollution. Just two public hearings will take place nationally on the proposal to limit what’s commonly known as soot, and one will be Thursday, July 19, at the California Air Resources Board, 1001 “I” Street, Sacramento.
“We rarely get hearings on EPA’s efforts to curb carbon pollution in California, even though our state is on the leading edge of environmental protection,” said Susan Stephenson, executive director of California Interfaith Power & Light, which works with its 560 member congregations around the state to mobilize a religious response to global warming.
“Soot pollution contributes to a wide range of health problems, especially for children, people with asthma and other respiratory ailments, and those at risk of heart attacks,” Stephenson said. “Since our faith calls us to care for God’s Creation as well as for our most vulnerable neighbors, California Interfaith Power & Light strongly supports the EPA’s proposed safeguards.”
Stephenson will testify at the hearing at 9:51 a.m. and post Twitter updates about the proceedings on Thursday morning. Follow her at @CaliforniaIPL.