To breathe easier

LITTLE ROCK — As the NAACP State Conference president for Arkansas, I am responsible for hearing and addressing all types of concerns. In Arkansas, far too many of the complaints I hear relate to deprivation of what should be a basic human right for all, the right to breathe clean air.

For black communities, in particular, these rights are being violated.

The racial disparities in air quality lead to disparities in health and quality of life. A black person making $50,000 per year is more likely to live in an area cited for bad air pollution than a white American making $15,000 per year. Studies have shown that 71 percent of blacks in the U.S. live in counties in violation of air-pollution standards, and 78 percent of blacks live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant.

Arsenic, dioxins, lead, mercury and other pollutants are spewed daily from various industrial facilities such as incinerators, power plants, factories, etc., putting people at risk across the country. For example, a Clean Air Task Force report on power-plant pollution found that emissions from power plants in the U.S. are responsible for 30,000 premature deaths, 7,000 asthma-related emergency-room visits, and 18,000 cases of chronic bronchitis each year.

When opponents denounce safeguards against pollution, such as the Clean Air Act and associated regulations with labels such as “job killing,” they disregard the high monetary cost of inaction and who is paying those costs. Consumers are already paying for the less-publicized costs of toxic air quality: mounting health expenses, lost days of school for sick kids, poor performance for lead-exposed kids who have learning challenges, lost days of work due to illness and trips to take children to the doctor, etc.

Currently, regulations under the Clean Air Act, such as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which aim to reduce pollution in our air, are under attack by polluters and certain legislative initiatives in Congress aimed at blocking the functionality of the act. These rules are essential for sensible reductions in air pollution. Supporting these rules would save up to 520 lives and will prevent heart attacks, hospitalizations and ER visits in Arkansas every year.

A constituent at an NAACP townhall meeting stated: “The American way of life is based on equal opportunity and there is nothing more basic than having the opportunity to breathe clean air. Clean air means a fair shot at a healthy upbringing. Healthy families have better school attendance, better job performance and a greater quality of life. If basic American values of equal opportunity are to persist, the EPA must take aggressive action to reduce mercury and air toxics in African American and Latino communities across the country.”

Opposing the implementation of the Clean Air Act and its associated regulations would limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce standards that protect us from significant amounts of harmful air pollution.

In July of 2011, the NAACP 102nd Annual Convention delegates unanimously passed a resolution calling for affirmation of strong regulations to safeguard clean air. These safeguards protect the health and well-being of the people living in communities affected by air pollution, who are disproportionately black.

Enough is enough. We must maintain existing safeguards, as well as implement and strengthen standards that protect our communities. The NAACP Arkansas State Conference of Branches strongly urges our senators and representatives to support clean-air safeguards and oppose proposed measures in Congress that put their constituents at risk.

Let Arkansas lead the way to cleaner air.

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Dale Charles is president of the NAACP Arkansas State Conference.