Friends,

Please join National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) in calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set an independent “secondary” or ecosystem national air quality standard for ozone pollution. (View & sign the letter here, deadline 9/30/20 12p EST.)

The secondary NAAQS is designed to serve as a companion to the better-known primary NAAQS, which focuses on human health. Unlike the primary NAAQS, the secondary standard is intended to protect public welfare such as plants and ecosystems. That’s nowhere more important than in our public lands and national parks, which safeguard incredible natural resources and sensitive ecosystems. The proposal to retain the current standard is inadequate because it does not match what science tells us is necessary to protect our natural resources.

We are calling on EPA to start over and do the review well, without jamming scientific and policy questions together. They must establish a separate secondary standard that relies on a distinct science-supported method in order to effectively protect natural resources against cumulative ozone impacts on trees, plants, ecosystems and our climate. Scientific advice from outside scientists with actual expertise in ozone’s effects on crop and forest productivity, resilience, scenic beauty, ecosystem functioning, and climate change must inform and guide the setting of a distinct secondary standard.

The letter to EPA and sign-on form are available here:

https://forms.gle/BtFZc5E21UNCCfZK7

The deadline to sign on is Sept. 30, Noon EST

Please help spread the word, thank you!

Ulla Reeves (she/her)

Senior Advocacy Manager, Clean Air Program

National Parks Conservation Association

Cell/Main: 828-989-0389 | ureeves@npca.org

npca.org | Your parks. Your turn.