As a family physician in Virginia, I feel that striving for the best health for the residents of our state is critical and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is crucial toward achieving this goal.

?It has been well established that the threats to our health due to air pollutants, such as particulate matter and ground level ozone, include:

• increased asthma cases and exacerbations
• reduced child lung function growth
• increased heart attacks and premature death ¹

and the most vulnerable groups include:

• the elderly
• children
• those with chronic illnesses ²

The EPA estimates that programs that improve air quality result in public health benefits that exceed the costs of achieving air quality targets by a 30:1 ratio. ³

The reductions in pollution in states participating in RGGI have resulted in $5.7 billion in health and productivity benefits. Between 2009-2014, this reduced pollution prevented hundreds of premature adult deaths, thousands of asthma exacerbations ⁴ and over 500 new cases of childhood asthma. ⁵

These and numerous other studies demonstrate that market-driven carbon reductions improve public health. I urge you to stay in RGGI to protect the health of all Virginians.

?Citations: 

1. Lancet, 2017: Estimates and 25-year trends of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution: an analysis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2015.  https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)30505-6/fulltext

?2. USGCRP, 2018: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II [Reidmiller, D.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, K.L.M. Lewis, T.K. Maycock, and B.C. Stewart (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, 1515 pp. doi: 10.7930/NCA4.2018

?3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2011. The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act: 1990 to 2020. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-07/documents/fullrept.pdf

?4. Manion M, Zarakas C, Wnuck S, Haskell J, Belova A, Cooley D, et al. Analysis of the Public Health Impacts of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Abt Associates, Cambridge, MA. 2017. https://www.abtassociates.com/insights/publications/report/analysis-of-the-public-health-impacts-ofthe-regional-greenhouse-gas-0

?5. Perera, F., Cooley, D., Berberian, A., Mills, D., & Kinney, P. (2020). Co-benefits to children’s health of the US regional greenhouse gas initiative. Environmental Health Perspectives, 128(7), 077006.