--- title: You Can’t Make America Healthy by Letting Polluters Off the Hook description: No parent wants pollution in their child’s lungs, write Elizabeth Bechard and Celerah Hewes. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/11/06/you-can-t-make-america-healthy-by-letting-polluters-off-the-hook/ author: Elizabeth Bechard article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-11-06T11:00:04.424Z article:modified_time: 2026-11-06T11:00:13.424Z article:section: Ideas og:title: You Can’t Make America Healthy by Letting Polluters Off the Hook og:description: No parent wants pollution in their child’s lungs, write Elizabeth Bechard and Celerah Hewes. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/11/06/you-can-t-make-america-healthy-by-letting-polluters-off-the-hook/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadbd35b2cfb69361/6aecea2109298ff9102112c0/gas-flare-near-home.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: gas-flare-near-home.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: You Can’t Make America Healthy by Letting Polluters Off the Hook twitter:description: No parent wants pollution in their child’s lungs, write Elizabeth Bechard and Celerah Hewes. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadbd35b2cfb69361/6aecea2109298ff9102112c0/gas-flare-near-home.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  IDEAS Time ideas # You Can’t Make America Healthy by Letting Polluters Off the Hook > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=2ea2d1f8-798d-46ce-92cf-7f23f6d1a43d&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Elizabeth Bechard](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-bechard/) and [Celerah Hewes](https://time.com/author/celerah-hewes/) Elizabeth Bechard is a public health manager for Moms Clean Air Force. Celerah Hewes is a senior manager for state field campaigns at Moms Clean Air Force. Nov 6, 2026 11:00 AM UTC  Oil and gas operations take place near homes near Dacono, Co. on Nov. 20, 2015. Oil and gas operations take place near homes near Dacono, Co. on Nov. 20, 2015. RJ Sangosti—The Denver Post via Getty Images by [Elizabeth Bechard](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-bechard/) and [Celerah Hewes](https://time.com/author/celerah-hewes/) Elizabeth Bechard is a public health manager for Moms Clean Air Force. Celerah Hewes is a senior manager for state field campaigns at Moms Clean Air Force. Nov 6, 2026 11:00 AM UTC Listen 00:001.0x04:21 Narrated by TIME AI. One might think, from President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of his administration’s plan to [gut federal methane protections](https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026/10/methane-trump-climate-oil-gas-01137313), that he was doing everyday Americans a huge favor. He claimed that this action was a win for consumers, but the real winners are polluters. They’ve been handed yet another free pass to keep emitting harmful air pollution without the protections that safeguard our health. The [gutting of oil and gas protections](https://time.com/7258269/trump-climate-policies-executive-orders/) should be shocking, but it was to be expected following closely on the heels of his administration’s actions a few weeks ago to repeal limits on climate pollution from [fossil fuel power plants](https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/14/climate/epa-emissions-coal-gas-power-plant-regulations-trump). Each one is an attack on climate protections and our children’s health at the very moment these protections are most needed. As mothers who care deeply about the well-being of our children and the only planet they can call home, we are frightened. Trump’s plans come as [data center expansion](https://time.com/article/2026/10/23/clean-energy-ai-boom-coreweave/) is rapidly [increasing power demand across the country](https://time.com/article/2026/08/28/leaders-pivoting-on-data-centers-require-more-than-roads-water-and-power-promises/), and the many utility companies and developers are responding with plans for additional [fossil fuel generation](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/10/19/big-tech-vowed-lead-climate-now-its-driving-fossil-fuel-boom/), including old [jet engines](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/03/climate/jet-engines-ai-data-center-generators-boneyard.html) and heavily polluting methane gas-fueled turbines. This growing reliance on methane gas for electricity will drive demand for methane production, and this could mean more oil and gas activity and [methane leaks](https://time.com/4236573/porter-ranch-methane-leak/). And when methane leaks from [oil and gas operations](https://www.momscleanairforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/methane%5F101.pdf), toxic air pollutants such as [benzene](https://time.com/6223219/gas-stove-leaking-benzene/) are released along with it, which has been linked to [various forms of cancer](https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/chemicals/benzene.html). Already, nearly [18 million people](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11111-022-00403-2) in the United States, including more than 1 million young children, live near oil and gas wells that will now pollute more freely because of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s actions. No parent wants pollution in their child’s lungs. We aren’t the only ones concerned. Recent polling finds broad support for strong methane protections in five major oil and gas-producing states. Across California, Colorado, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Texas, 72% support their state adopting stringent rules to [reduce methane emissions](https://globalstrategygroup.app.box.com/s/brykjwitkf931f42ly21w5vcwv2rvasz) from the oil and gas industry, including regular inspections of low-producing wells. Methane is also a [potent climate pollutant](https://sustainability.yale.edu/explainers/yale-experts-explain-methane-emission) that accelerates global warming far faster than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timeframe, making it a key driver of the health harms of climate change that come with escalating [weather extremes](https://time.com/article/2026/10/14/climate-change-accelerating-study/). Extreme heat raises the risk of [heat-related illnesses](https://time.com/article/2026/09/19/what-1000-women-workers-can-teach-us-about-surviving-extreme-heat/), which are especially dangerous for children’s developing bodies. Worsened air pollution from longer, more intense wildfire seasons also means more [asthma](https://time.com/6983695/how-air-quality-affects-asthma/), immune dysfunction, [learning](https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2022/09/wildfire-smoke-exposure-hurts-learning-outcomes) and [behavioral problems](https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/19/wildfire-neurological-impact-brain-development-smoke-trauma-research/), and [poor birth outcomes](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935126005256). The Trump-Zeldin Environmental Protection Agency may want to ignore the moment of climate urgency we’re living in, but we cannot. Like caregivers around the country and around the world, we’re trying to figure out how to raise our children in uncharted climate terrain. We cannot see how the administration’s attempts to eviscerate federal climate protections—including rolling back methane and power plant pollution safeguards—are in any way aligned with its public messaging on [making American families healthy again](https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/trump-epa-celebrates-childrens-health-month-100-actions-protect-nations-most-precious) and saving money for U.S. families and consumers. These changes will more likely make America sicker, and their refusal to enforce current protections has already wasted [billions of dollars of methane gas](https://www.edf.org/national-methane-waste-counter), just as families are struggling with the [costs of heating our homes](https://time.com/article/2026/10/07/the-war-in-iran-will-make-it-harder-for-americans-to-stay-warm-this-winter/). The responsibility carried by all who care about keeping children safe on an increasingly chaotic planet is clear: to refuse to allow those who would harm them to have the last word. So, despite the Trump Administration’s unwillingness to listen to families’ concerns about its reckless environmental actions, we will keep demanding accountability. We will keep telling the EPA that protecting our children’s health and their futures matters more than [record profits for the fossil fuel industry](https://www.npr.org/2026/10/31/nx-s1-6008072/oil-company-profits-gasoline-diesel-prices). The U.S. EPA’s job is to safeguard public health, not give the fossil fuel industry free passes to pollute. [TIME Ideas](https://www.time.com/ideas) hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. 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