Press Mention The Knoxville Journal April 2, 2002
SACE Quoted
Local mother testifies EPA's proposed new rules unethical
In this mention
A Louisville, Tennessee mother, Vickie Stewart, testified before the EPA in North Carolina on March 31, 2002, opposing proposed rollbacks to the Clean Air Act, citing health risks to her asthmatic daughter. Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, also testified at the hearing and supported Stewart's position, noting that the EPA's proposed changes would allow coal-fired power plants to do what the agency had previously sued TVA for doing.
Vickie and Stephanie are the exact reasons why the Bush administration should not roll back important provisions of the Clean Air Act
Stephen A. Smith
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Full transcript
Local mother testifies EPA's
proposed new rules unethical
By KARA COVINGTON
Journal Staff Reporter
When Louisville, Tenn., resident Vickie Stewart learned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was considering relaxing current pollution laws she was appalled — and frightened that such a decision could endanger her asthmatic daughter.
On March 31, Stewart traveled to North Carolina to testify at an EPA hearing, where she pleaded with the agency not to weaken the Clean Air Act.
Stewart said it would be "unethical" of the EPA to roll back clean air laws and consequently trigger increased numbers of asthma attacks for her daughter, Stephanie Robinson, and the more than 4,300 other children in Knox County with the same disease.
According to the American Lung Association, more than 25,000 people in Knox County suffer from asthma, and environmental pollution from the region's coal-fired plants aggravate the condition, leading to thousands of asthma attacks each year.
The Bush administration and EPA have proposed cuts to the act that would allow coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities to increase pollution output without implementing pollution control measures, said Stewart.
"We need to be strengthening our air pollution laws, not weakening them. My daughter already has to be rushed to the emergency room several times a year. What is going to happen to her when we weaken these rules?" said Stewart.
"Vickie and Stephanie are the exact reasons why the Bush administration should not roll back important provisions of the Clean Air Act," said Stephen Smith, executive director of locally based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. Smith also testified at the hearing.
In 1999, the EPA sued the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), claiming that TVA upgraded plants without installing pollution control devices, and that more than 10 million tons of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides were released into the air and were traveling across the United States.
Smith and Stewart pointed out that the EPA appear now to be planning to allow coal-fire power plants to do exactly what they sued the TVA for.
Stewart said that her daughter's father, Darrell Robinson, died of lung complications when he was 41 and she is afraid of the same fate for her daughter if the provisions of the act are changed.
"Most parents worry about their children getting bad grades, dating and driving irresponsibly. I have to worry about Stephanie's breathing," said Stewart.
Stewart said her ancestors were among the first landowners in Cades Cove and she does not want to leave the area without a fight.
"I am now seriously considering moving Stephanie to a place that has clean air, giving up all of our treasured family heritage and connection to this land just to ensure that her health does not continue to deteriorate," said Stewart.