Action Alerts

We All Have the Right to Breathe

What's At Stake

Take a breath. Does the air feel fresh? Clean? If so, be thankful, because that isn’t always the case. For more than 40 years, the Clean Air Act has fostered steady progress in reducing air pollution, allowing Americans to breathe easier and live healthier. But for many, air pollution still remains a public health threat.

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Many of the protective standards have become outdated or are years overdue. The EPA and the White House are responsible to set strong protections under the Clean Air Act using the latest scientific findings that reduce pollution and save lives.

The EPA needs to move forward on overdue clean air protections that cut dangerous carbon pollution from power plants, clean up smog and haze, reduce toxic emissions and provide cleaner gasoline. These clean air standards will prevent illnesses like asthma attacks, heart disease, and even premature death and address the problems contributing to climate change and superstorms like Hurricane Sandy.

Earthjustice uses the power of the law to hold the government accountable for clean air protections. But our victories in court are made stronger when the people demand strong protections.

Please take a moment to write the Biden Administration and tell them that strengthening clean air protections and reducing carbon pollution is important to you!

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Delivery to Biden Administration

Important Notice

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Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. Read more.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. Read more.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. Read more.

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.