John,

Today is Earth Day, and we’re pushing back against Trump’s attacks on our air, water, and climate.

The Trump administration is giving the fossil fuel and chemical industries a free pass to pollute. They’re exempting many coal plants from Biden-era protections against arsenic and mercury in air pollution. They’re changing how the EPA evaluates the risk that chemicals pose to public health, which could reverse hundreds of state and local bans on toxic chemicals.

Many states and municipalities have taken steps to ban the cancer-causing “forever chemicals” known as PFAS. PFAS is in many consumer products, and some states have banned it from items such as cookware, food packaging, clothing, firefighting gear, playground equipment, menstrual products, and cosmetics. Maine is also banning PFAS for non-essential uses.¹

These state-level bans are powerful; they pushed the giant chemical corporation 3M to stop producing PFAS, and other smaller companies have agreed to find alternatives.

Eleven states also set limits on PFAS in drinking water, and I helped move the EPA under former President Biden to implement life-saving nationwide standards that limit PFAS in drinking water. But this progress is at risk under Trump.

Sign now to tell Congress: Step up to protect Americans from toxic chemicals like PFAS. Pass policies to clean up contamination, protect states’ ability to ban these cancer-causing chemicals, stop PFAS from polluting our drinking water, and phase out PFAS where alternatives are available.

PFAS chemicals cause cancer, damage children’s development, and harm immune and reproductive systems. They don’t degrade, so they persist and build up over time in the environment and in our bodies.

We have the right to breathe clean air and clean water, and I’ve worked alongside environmental justice activists for years to protect that right. My state of Michigan has more known sites contaminated with PFAS than any other state.

I passed an amendment putting frontline communities first when remediating PFAS, and I helped push the EPA to:

• Dedicate $1 billion to help states test and treat PFAS contamination.

• Designate two types of PFAS as hazardous substances, requiring reporting of contamination and ensuring that corporate polluters pay for cleaning up contaminated sites.

• Enact historic nationwide standards to limit PFAS in drinking water.

I also moved the EPA to adopt a historic policy to replace all lead service lines that carry water to people’s homes in U.S. communities. This is part of the progress I’ve pushed for in the fight to protect families from lead poisoning.

But all of these EPA initiatives are under threat with the new president. Trump is illegally firing the EPA staff who do environmental justice and contamination cleanup work. (He can’t do this without Congressional approval.) He’s also taking steps to weaken or roll back Biden-era protections, including withdrawing a Biden-era plan to limit industrial PFAS pollution in waterways.

Too often, federal agencies’ policies are subject to presidential whims. We need to make these public health protections permanent by passing them through Congress.

Sign on to demand Congress act now to protect Americans from cancer-causing toxic chemicals.

Thank you for continuing to demand better. Together, we will keep pushing for environmental justice for all.

With you in this fight,

Rashida

¹ More states ban PFAS, or ‘forever chemicals,’ in more products

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Rashida Tlaib
Date: Mon, Apr 21, 2025
Subject: Trump and his chemical industry buddies want to profit off poisoning our air and water.
To: [email protected]

John,

With Earth Day tomorrow, we’re shining a light on how Trump is poisoning our air and water—and how we can fight back.

Trump has appointed EPA staff who have lobbied for chemical corporations and opposed bans on asbestos. He’s also illegally firing workers who clean up toxic contamination and focus on environmental justice. His administration also terminated an agreement to protect majority-Black communities from raw sewage, and exempted nearly 70 coal plants from Biden-era protections against mercury and arsenic. This is unacceptable.

For decades, I’ve worked with movements to bring about environmental justice. Under the Biden administration, I helped push for historic drinking water standards to protect families from toxic chemicals known as PFAS. These “forever chemicals” cause cancer, harm immune and reproductive systems, and damage children’s development. They accumulate in our bodies and they never break down or biodegrade.

Now Trump’s taking steps to roll back Biden-era plans and regulations to limit PFAS chemicals.

He’s also trying to reverse hundreds of state and local PFAS bans, which have protected people from PFAS in consumer products like cookware, food packaging, clothing, firefighting gear, playground equipment, and cosmetics.

Please sign if you agree: Federal lawmakers must protect states’ ability to ban these cancer-causing toxic chemicals. The time is now for Congress to act, including cleaning up PFAS contamination, stopping PFAS from polluting our drinking water, and banning PFAS in products.

The DuPont corporation knew as early as 1961 that PFAS chemicals (shorthand for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) were toxic and caused serious health effects. In order to continue profiting, DuPont buried that information and made tens of billions of dollars for decades while the rest of us were being poisoned.

My state of Michigan has more known sites contaminated with PFAS than any other state.

I’ve worked alongside my constituents to clean up these “forever chemicals,” including pushing for cleanup funding, holding community town halls with environmental leaders, and using my position in the House Oversight Committee to push the FDA to safeguard our food and hold chemical companies like DuPont accountable for the harms of PFAS.

I also passed an amendment to prioritize cleaning up PFAS in frontline communities that have been disproportionately impacted by pollution, climate change, and environmental destruction.

As part of protecting the human right to water, I’ve also passed amendments that would provide $23 billion to fully replace dangerous lead pipes. And I successfully pushed the EPA to adopt a historic requirement to replace all poisonous lead service lines that carry water to people’s homes… but if the EPA staff who’d implement this policy are all fired, it won’t happen.

That’s why Congress needs to push federal agencies on these issues. When Congress passes a law, it’s much harder to overturn than policies enacted by presidents within federal agencies.

Sign now to urge Congress: Protect Americans from toxic chemicals like cancer-causing PFAS. Pass legislation to defend states’ abilities to ban these chemicals, clean up PFAS contamination, stop PFAS from polluting our drinking water, and phase out non-essential uses of PFAS.

Thank you for taking action. We can’t let the water we rely on be sacrificed for corporate greed. That includes protecting water from oil and gas pipelines.

Unfortunately, Trump is also fast-tracking permits for the destructive Line 5 pipeline under the Great Lakes, which would threaten drinking water for more than 40 million people. I’ve met with Tribal leaders who’ve kept up the fight to shut down Line 5, reminding us that “water is life.”

I will continue standing up to corporations that exploit our water and violate our Indigenous neighbors’ rights. Together, we will demand our government respect the human right to breathe clean air and drink clean water.

With you in the fight for our environment and our rights,

Rashida