A campaign is underway to make sure the air we breathe is as healthy as it can be.
Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester spoke Wednesday in New Castle
That takes persistent monitoring, investment, and a commitment to holding polluters accountable: all of which, critics said, are at risk due to policies supported by the Trump Administration.
Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Delaware was supported by the Climate Action Campaign and local citizens Wednesday. They encouraged passage of the Public Air Quality Act that she reintroduced in December.
"It deploys at least 100 new air quality monitoring stations and at least 1,000 new air quality sensors in communities that are most in need," Blunt Rochester said." She also said the measure would direct the EPA to improve tracking of pollution around industrial facilities.
The state is doing its best to step up air quality monitoring, according to Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources Greg Patterson. He said the state gets federal funding from the EPA as well as state funding, but "the reality is a lot of the federal support has changed over the last year or so. And, a lot of the restrictions on what industry can do have started to erode away as a result of federal decisions."
"It's more important than ever that we double down at the state level and try and do it ourselves." Patterson said.
Mid-Atlantic Alliance for Climate and Health President Deanna Benner, who is a nurse practitioner, said it is clear that the climate is generally getting warmer, and that impacts vulnerable communities the most, "because they often face higher baseline health risks, greater exposure to pollution and heat, and fewer resources to adapt, prepare and recover."
"We're at a critical moment for addressing climate change in our communities, especially regarding its impact on the air we breathe," Community Housing and Empowerment Connections Founder and CEO Penny Dryden said. "Investing in community-engaged air monitoring networks is necessary to facilitate the transparency and accountability required at all levels to protect our neighborhoods."
Others who joined the event included State Representative Larry Lambert, D-Claymont, who sponsored a pollution accountability bill on the state level (House Bill 210). He put it succinctly:
"This is life and death for people in our communities."
Air quality can be tracked virtually through EPA's AirNow.gov
