The Environmental Health Restoration Act (EHRA)
The Environmental Health Restoration Act (EHRA)
Clean air. Clean water. Healthy communities. A stable climate. These aren’t partisan issues; they’re the foundation of the places we love and the lives we build around them. Snow to ski and ride, rivers to paddle and fish, trails where we can breathe clean air.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created to protect public health and enforce laws like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. However, recent rollbacks have weakened that mission and protections against climate pollution and toxic emissions have been cut, enforcement has been reduced, and science has been sidelined. These aren’t abstract policy shifts. They show up in our communities as wildfire smoke, polluted air and water, and greater risks to public health.
That’s why POW is fighting for the EPA through the introduction of the EHRA, legislation that puts people over polluters and science back in charge.
EHRA would:
- Restore safeguards against pollution from power plants, vehicles, and oil & gas operations
- Restore EPA authority to address greenhouse gas pollution and climate impacts
- Require EPA decisions to rely on peer-reviewed science, not political pressure
- Rebuild enforcement capacity and increase transparency around violations and penalties
- Prioritize monitoring and enforcement in communities hit hardest by pollution
- Set a stronger, more consistent federal baseline while protecting tougher state standards
- Create real accountability so people can hold the EPA to the law
“At a time when the Trump Administration is ignoring the climate crisis and undermining Americans’ ability to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and enjoy the outdoors, it is more important than ever to restore a commitment to science-based environmental protection at the EPA,” said Rep. Sean Casten. “The EPA was created to protect public health and our environment. I’m proud to introduce this legislation to refocus the agency on its core mission.”
For POW, everything we love about the outdoors depends on healthy environmental systems, and the EPA is one of our most important tools for protecting them. After years spent fighting rollbacks and defending the places we love, we now have a chance to fight for something: a proactive solution that protects people, holds polluters accountable, and builds toward a future where clean air, clean water, and a healthy planet aren’t up for negotiation.
Like any big objective in the mountains, you don’t wait for the weather window to open before you start preparing. You map the route, build the team, and get ready to move when conditions line up. That’s what we’re doing now. We’re building the coalition, growing support in Congress, and mobilizing the Outdoor State. Big policy change takes time. The weather window for passage will come. Our job is to be ready when it does.
Tell Congress: Put people over polluters. Co-sponsor the Environmental Health Restoration Act
