\u201cIndustry and government is very, very, very powerful. It\u2019s more powerful than me. I\u2019m just an English teacher,\u201d Brockman said. But she wants to feel she can make a difference.<\/p>\n
In a way, Brockman\u2019s monitoring echoes the reporting that the Environmental Protection Agency began requiring from large polluters more than a decade ago. Emissions from four coal-fired plants in southwest Indiana have dropped 60% since 2010, when the rule took effect.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Abbie Brockman, right, goes through the results of a water quality test with colleague Karen LaMar, left, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Leopold, Ind. (AP Photo\/Joshua A. Bickel)<\/p>\n Abbie Brockman, right, goes through the results of a water quality test with colleague Karen LaMar, left, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Leopold, Ind. (AP Photo\/Joshua A. Bickel)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n That rule is now on the chopping block, one of many that President Donald Trump\u2019s EPA<\/a> argues is costly and burdensome for industry.<\/p>\n But experts say dropping the requirement risks a big increase in emissions if companies are no longer publicly accountable for what they put in the air. And they say losing the data \u2014 at the same time the EPA is cutting air quality monitoring elsewhere \u2014 would make it tougher to fight climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rule required big polluters to say how much they are emitting<\/p>\n At stake is the Greenhouse Gas Reporting program, a 2009 rule from President Barack Obama\u2019s administration that affects large carbon polluters like refineries, power plants, wells and landfills. In the years since, they\u2019ve collectively reported a 20% drop in emissions, mostly driven by the closure of coal plants.<\/p>\n And what happens at these big emitters makes a difference. Their declining emissions account for more than three-quarters of the overall, if modest, decline in all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions since 2010.<\/p>\n The registry includes places not usually thought of as big polluters but that have notable greenhouse gas emissions, such as college campuses, breweries and cereal factories. Even Walt Disney World in Florida, where pollution dropped 62% since 2010<\/a>, has to report along with nearly 10,600 other places.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t solve climate change without knowing how much pollution major facilities are emitting and how that\u2019s changing over time,\u201d said Jeremy Symons, a former EPA senior climate adviser now at Environmental Protection Network, an organization of ex-EPA officials that monitors environmental policies. The group provided calculations<\/a> as a part of The Associated Press\u2019 analysis of impacts<\/a> from proposed rule rollbacks. <\/p>\n Symons said some companies would welcome the end of the registry because it would make it easier to pollute.<\/p>\n Experts see a role for registry in cutting emissions<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary Hess displays an air monitor outside her home Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Dale, Ind. (AP Photo\/Joshua A. Bickel)<\/p>\n Mary Hess displays an air monitor outside her home Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Dale, Ind. (AP Photo\/Joshua A. Bickel)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear how much the registry itself has contributed to declining emissions. More targeted regulations on smokestack emissions, as well as coal being crowded out by cheaper and less polluting natural gas, are bigger factors.<\/p>\n But the registry \u201cdoes put pressure on companies to … document what they\u2019ve done or at least to provide a baseline for what they\u2019ve done,\u201d said Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson, who heads Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that tally national carbon emissions yearly. <\/p>\n Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator under Obama, said the registry makes clear how power plants are doing against each other, and that\u2019s an inducement to lower emissions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is money for those companies. It\u2019s costs. It\u2019s reputation. It\u2019s been, I think, a wonderful success story and I hope it continues.\u201d<\/p>\n The potential end of the reporting requirement comes as experts say much of the country\u2019s air goes unmonitored. Nelson Arley Roque, a Penn State professor who co-authored a study in April on these \u201cmonitoring deserts,\u201d said about 40% of U.S. lands are unmonitored. That often includes poor and rural neighborhoods.<\/p>\n \u201cThe air matters to all of us, but apparently 50 million people can\u2019t know or will never know\u2019\u2019 how bad the air is, Roque said.<\/p>\n EPA seeks to cancel money to fund some air monitoring<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary Hess displays air quality data on the IQAir app on her phone Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Dale, Ind. (AP Photo\/Joshua A. Bickel)<\/p>\n Mary Hess displays air quality data on the IQAir app on her phone Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Dale, Ind. (AP Photo\/Joshua A. Bickel)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n The EPA is also trying to claw back money that had been earmarked for air monitoring, part of the termination of grants that it has labeled as targeting diversity, equity and inclusion. That includes $500,000 that would have funded 40 air monitors in a low-income and minority community in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area.<\/p>\n CleaneAIRE NC, a nonprofit that works to improve air quality across the state that was awarded the grant, is suing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not diversity, equity and inclusion. It\u2019s human rights,\u201d said Daisha Wall, the group\u2019s community science program manager. \u201cWe all deserve a right to clean air.\u201d<\/p>\n Research strongly links poor air quality to diseases like asthma and heart disease, with a slightly less established link to cancer. Near polluting industries, experts say what\u2019s often lacking is either enough data in specific locations or the will to investigate the health toll.<\/p>\n Indiana says it \u201cmaintains a robust statewide monitoring and assessment program for air, land and water,\u201d but Brockman and others in this part of the state aren\u2019t satisfied. She and other members of local advocacy groups Southwestern Indiana Citizens for Quality of Life and Valley Watch install and maintain their own air and water quality monitors. It\u2019s a full-time job to keep the network of monitors up and running, fighting spotty Wi-Fi and connectivity issues.<\/p>\n Fighting industry is a sensitive subject, Brockman added. Many families depend on jobs at coal-fired power plants, and poverty is real. She keeps snacks in her desk for the kids who haven\u2019t eaten breakfast.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you also don\u2019t want to hear of another student that has a rare cancer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed from Washington.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEOPOLD, Ind. 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