From Senator Bill Frist, M.D., Sept. 17, 2026- Clean air standards save lives. Weakening them is a step backward for public health and the environment.
This week, the EPA proposed eliminating all remaining greenhouse gas emissions rules for coal and natural gas power plants. Many of these regulations have a history of bipartisan support, grounded in the Clean Air Act of 1970 that was authored by my mentor, Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (R-TN).
As a heart and lung transplant surgeon and former Senate Majority Leader, I see clean air protections as preventive medicine.
Fine-particle air pollution can trigger inflammation, impair blood-vessel function, and promote abnormal clotting, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The original power-plant carbon standards were projected to deliver additional health benefits through measurable reductions in air pollution.
Any serious assessment of regulatory costs must also account for the costs of preventable illness: hospitalizations, lost productivity, and lives cut short.
In this week’s Myth Diagnosis, I address the claim that clean air standards are “just more red tape.”
My diagnosis? Prevention reversed.
Prescription? Protect the safeguards that protect our health.
We have made real progress toward cleaner air. Now is the time to build on it.
Clean air protections are health protections. Because the world around us shapes the health within us.
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