Study links NYC congestion pricing policy to cleaner air in lower Manhattan

One year after New York City launched its congestion pricing policy, fine particulate pollution inside Manhattan’s congestion relief zone was 13 percent lower, according to a new analysis that accounted for regional pollution trends, weather and normal

Columbia Climate School

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Time series of monthly-averaged PM2.5 measurements at six representative NYC monitoring sites: (a) Manhattan Bridge, (b) Williamsburg Bridge, (c) Broadway & 35th, (d) Queensboro Bridge, (e) Cross Bronx Expressway, and (f) Queens College.

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Credit: ACS Publications

One year after New York City launched its congestion pricing policy, fine particulate pollution inside Manhattan’s congestion relief zone was 13 percent lower, according to a new analysis that accounted for regional pollution trends, weather and normal year-to-year variability.

“For the most part, the program appears to be working,” said Daniel M. Westervelt, a study coauthor and an associate research professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which is part of the Columbia Climate School. “It reduced particulate pollution inside the congestion zone by a modest amount.”

Published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, the study is among the first year-long assessments of the Central Business District Tolling Program, which took effect on January 5, 2025, and is the first congestion pricing program in the United States. The program charges most vehicles entering Manhattan south of 60th Street in an effort to reduce traffic congestion and generate revenue for public transit.

“A full year of data helps us see whether changes in air quality remain consistent across all seasons and different weather conditions,” said first author Polina Goldberg. “Other cities have been waiting to see what happens in New York before they consider anything similar, so we wanted to get the analysis right rather than fast.” Goldberg began the research with Westervelt as an undergraduate through Lamont’s summer internship program and is now starting graduate school at Columbia.

To examine the program’s early impacts on air quality and traffic patterns, the researchers analyzed ground-level air pollution measurements from 15 sites in New York City’s Community Air Survey real-time monitoring network, along with hourly traffic counts from two major tunnel crossings into Manhattan and satellite observations of nitrogen dioxide. This combined approach allowed the team to measure changes within the congestion zone and look for possible spillover pollution into adjacent areas.

In 2025, the number of vehicles coming into the congestion zone from the Queens Midtown and Brooklyn Battery tunnels was generally lower compared to 2024. While daily traffic patterns remained similar, the number of vehicles during morning and evening rush hours declined after congestion pricing began, signaling shifts in travel behavior during the busiest periods.

Air quality improvements inside the congestion zone

Monthly and daily monitoring data showed lower levels of fine particulate pollution, known as PM2.5, in 2025 compared with 2022-2024, particularly at sites in lower Manhattan. All six representative sites examined in detail had lower median PM2.5 concentrations in 2025 than in 2022-2024, with the largest decrease, about 2.7 micrograms per cubic meter, at the Broadway & 35th Street site in midtown Manhattan. The smallest decrease was at Queens College, the site farthest from the congestion zone, where the change was not statistically significant.

Because PM2.5 has been declining across the region due to seasonal patterns and policy influences, the researchers used a statistical approach to distinguish the program’s effects from these trends. They compared sites inside the zone with sites outside it while controlling for weather and seasonal effects.

That analysis found PM2.5 concentrations inside the zone were about 1.3 to 1.4 micrograms per cubic meter, or roughly 13 percent, lower than would be expected based on trends at sites outside it. This estimate is smaller than the largest raw site-level declines, because it reflects only the share of the improvement attributable to the tolling program.

That estimated decrease broadly tracked with the roughly 11 percent drop in vehicles entering the zone, strengthening the evidence that reduced vehicle activity contributed to the observed air quality improvements. Monitoring data also showed fewer pronounced rush hour spikes in 2025, suggesting the policy reduced both average pollution levels and short-term spikes in measured concentrations.

While this study did not evaluate the health benefits of reducing PM2.5, even small changes in fine-particle pollution can matter for public health. Fine particles are linked to cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and reducing exposure is generally expected to improve health outcomes.

The researchers also evaluated a possible increase in PM2.5 at two monitoring sites just outside the congestion zone, near the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and in Mott Haven. The estimated increase, about 0.5 micrograms per cubic meter, did not meet conventional levels of statistical significance, but continued monitoring will help determine whether this localized spillover persists.

“It would be premature to say there were definitely increases that were directly attributable to the congestion pricing policy,” Westervelt said.

Satellite observations added context to the ground-level findings. Tropospheric nitrogen dioxide, a traffic-related pollutant that can contribute to respiratory problems and the formation of smog, declined by more than 20 percent across the New York City metropolitan area in 2025 compared with a 2018-2024 baseline.

Although nitrogen dioxide levels fell slightly more in lower Manhattan than in other city boroughs, the difference wasn’t large enough to attribute the reductions to congestion pricing. The satellite data likely reflect broader regional influences, including other air-quality policies, with congestion pricing potentially contributing to the overall decline.
The analysis also found no evidence that nitrogen dioxide concentrations increased in the outer boroughs, suggesting the policy didn’t lead to detectable increases in this pollutant in surrounding areas.

Outcomes beyond the congestion zone

By comparing conditions inside and outside Manhattan’s congestion zone, the study provides one of the first neighborhood-scale estimates of the program’s impact on air quality in a U.S. city. This evidence of how New York’s program affected air quality during its first year may help inform policymakers and urban planners in the city and elsewhere.

The results also highlight the importance of evaluating congestion pricing policies across a broad area, not just within the congestion zone, to understand how pollution patterns shift.

Westervelt said longer-term analyses, including additional pollutants and improved satellite observations, will help determine how durable the first-year improvements in air quality prove to be as traffic patterns continue to adjust to the policy.

The study was coauthored by Abhishek Anand of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Daniel L. Goldberg of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.

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Journal

Environmental Science & Technology Letters

DOI

10.1021/acs.estlett.6c00610

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Study Links NYC Congestion Pricing Policy to Cleaner Air In Lower Manhattan

Article Publication Date

7-Oct-2026

 

TikTok misinformation content on acetaminophen and autism surged after presidential announcement

A majority of misinformation was created by influencers rather than medical professionals

American Academy of Pediatrics

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SAN DIEGO —— Misinformation linking acetaminophen use during pregnancy to autism in children rose on TikTok after an announcement from the Food and Drug Administration, according to research presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2026 National Conference & Exhibition Oct. 2-6, 2026, at the San Diego Convention Center.

The FDA announced a label change for acetaminophen products such as Tylenol on September 22, 2025, prompting a wave of confusion and concern that brought users to the internet in search of accurate information. On TikTok, however, they were more likely to encounter misinformation from influencers without medical expertise.

The abstract, titled, “Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Autism on TikTok: Disproportionate Exposure to Misinformation in a Content Analysis,” analyzed 53 TikTok videos posted immediately after the announcement between September 2025 and November 2025, and found that about 53% contained evidence-consistent information, while about 28% contained outright misinformation.

“Despite being a smaller portion of the overall available subject content, the misinformation videos accounted for over half of the total views of all the content we examined,” Shivani Srivastava, Medical Student at Rutgers School of Medicine said.

“Our results indicate that TikTok’s algorithm amplified low-quality, conspiracy-framed videos containing misinformation on a very sensitive health topic and allowed for misinformation videos to spread far wider than evidence-based videos that explained the lack of causal evidence between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and autism.”

A single misinformation video reached 10.3 million views, representing a third (36.6%) of all exposure across content analyzed. Additionally, nearly 3/4 of the videos containing misinformation were created by influencers as opposed to medical professionals.

Researchers state that as more people turn to social media, and especially TikTok, for medical advice, it becomes increasingly important for pediatricians to proactively address misinformation with patients and their families.

“After seeing pregnant patients in our own clinics question whether it was safe to take Tylenol during pregnancy, we wanted to understand what information they were being exposed to online,” Srivastava said. “Our findings reveal how important it is for medical institutions to be part of the conversations on social media by sharing accurate, engaging content that reaches patients where they are.”

 

Media Relations Contact: Lavene Gass, lag311@njms.rutgers.edu

 

Study author Katherine Poole is scheduled to present the research, which is below, from 10:20 to 10:30 a.m. PDT on Sunday, Oct. 4 at the Marriott.

 

In addition, Ms. Poole will be among highlighted abstract authors who will give brief presentations and be available for interviews during a “Soundbite Session” from noon- 1 pm PDT Sunday, Oct. 4, in the conference center Press Room, 14A.

 

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org. Reporters can access the meeting program and other relevant meeting information through the AAP meeting website at http://www.aapexperience.org/

 

Program Name: Call for Abstracts

Submission Type: Council on Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract Title: Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Autism on TikTok: Disproportionate Exposure to Misinformation in a Content Analysis

Katherine Poole

Hoboken, NJ, United States

 

TikTok is a primary source of health information for adolescents and young adults, a population at particular risk when algorithmic amplification accelerates the spread of medical misinformation. In September 2025, public attention to a proposed association between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), despite the absence of causal evidence, triggered a rapid surge of TikTok content on the topic. Misinformation in this environment poses direct risk to prenatal health decision-making among young people of reproductive age.

 

We conducted a cross-sectional content analysis of 53 TikTok videos posted between September and November 2025, identified using the search terms "tylenol autism," "acetaminophen autism," "paracetamol autism," and #tylenol (IRB approval: Pro2026000574). Two reviewers independently coded videos for misinformation status, creator type, educational quality using the validated Global Quality Scale (GQS), thematic framing, and engagement metrics. Inter-rater reliability for misinformation classification was substantial (Cohen's kappa = 0.86). Group differences were assessed using Fisher's exact test and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Independent predictors of misinformation were assessed using Firth penalized logistic regression. All analyses were performed in R version 4.5.3.

 

Of 53 videos, 52.8% were evidence-consistent, 28.3% contained misinformation, and 18.9% were mixed or uncertain. Health professionals produced exclusively evidence-consistent content, while influencers accounted for 73.3% of all misinformation videos (p < 0.001). Misinformation videos were of significantly lower educational quality than evidence-consistent videos (mean GQS 1.73 vs. 4.18, p < 0.001) and were more likely to include conspiracy framing (46.7%) and pharmaceutical distrust (53.3%, p < 0.001). Despite comprising only 28.3% of videos, misinformation accounted for 52.4% of total views across 28.13 million total views. A single misinformation video reached 10.3 million views, representing 36.6% of all exposure across analyzed videos. In logistic regression, lower educational quality and conspiracy framing were each independently associated with misinformation (p < 0.001 and p = 0.012, respectively), while creator type was not independently significant after adjustment.

 

TikTok's recommendation algorithm disproportionately amplified low-quality, conspiracy-framed content during this health controversy, giving misinformation far greater reach than evidence-based videos. Pediatricians should proactively address this content in clinical conversations with patients of reproductive age. Broader solutions will require platform-level content moderation and coordinated public health responses to counter misinformation on platforms widely used by adolescents and young adults.

 

Figure 1. Educational quality and exposure of TikTok videos discussing acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism spectrum disorder risk (N = 53).

 

Each bubble represents one video. The x-axis shows Global Quality Scale (GQS) score and the y-axis shows total view count (log scale). Bubble size reflects share count, while shape indicates creator type and color indicates content classification. The y-axis is log-scaled to account for the wide range of view counts.

Figure 2. Predictors of misinformation in TikTok videos discussing acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism spectrum disorder risk (N = 53), estimated using Firth penalized logistic regression.

 

Diamonds represent odds ratios and horizontal lines represent 95% confidence intervals. Red indicates statistical significance (p < 0.05) and blue indicates non-significance (p ≥ 0.05). The dashed vertical line marks the null (OR = 1).

 

 

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Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Autism on TikTok: Disproportionate Exposure to Misinformation in a Content Analysis

Article Publication Date

2-Oct-2026

Social media analysis finds health institutions delayed or did not respond to false claims inking autism to acetaminophen use during pregnancy

Audit of Instagram posts shows American Academy of Pediatrics was the exception in responding to misinformation

American Academy of Pediatrics

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SAN DIEGO — Most public health institutions failed to respond in a timely way to misinformation on social media that falsely claimed that acetaminophen during pregnancy is linked to autism, according to research presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2026 National Conference & Exhibition.

Researchers reviewed public social media (Instagram) posts from 65 accounts including top children’s hospitals, medical societies, and state health departments, auditing accounts to assess their response to popular misinformation on this topic from September through November, 2025. They identified the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) as the fastest and most active account to respond during this time, according to authors.

“As social media grows in popularity as a source of medical information, it is imperative to understand the ways trusted sources communicate this information,” said author Jessica Visone, a medical student at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. She will present the abstract, “Administrative Gaps in Digital Patient Engagement: An Audit of Institutional Responsiveness to the 2025 Acetaminophen-Autism Controversy,” during the Oct. 2-6 conference in San Diego.

“We need to ensure the right information is reaching the appropriate audiences to promote health and well-being for all. At a time of increased misinformation, there is nothing more powerful than the truth when it comes to population health.”

The research audits the timeliness and quality of digital communications from pediatric organizations following messaging from the White House on September 22, 2025, linking acetaminophen use to autism. 

The analysis found only 14 of 65 institutions (21.5%) of the accounts posted anything relevant to correct false claims concerning the purported cause of autism. None of the state health departments addressed the topic and children’s hospitals took as long as 51 days to address the topic, according to research. The AAP responded on Day 1 and posted 10 relevant posts over the time period.

Of the 26 relevant posts analyzed, all used plain-language formatting and myth-busting framing, but the average reading level was well above the average 8th-grade reading level in the U.S., according to the research. No multilingual content was identified across any institution.

“Overall, through this audit of major pediatric health institutions, we found a limited and delayed response to an active health controversy,” Visone said. “Major health organizations have a responsibility to communicate with the populations they serve during times of increased health misinformation.”

The full team who contributed to this research included Kathryn Whitehill, MD, and medical students: Shivani Srivastava and Katherine Poole. 

Media Relations Contact:

Lavene Gass, lag311@njms.rutgers.edu

Contact: Jessica Visone

Email: jnv38@njms.rutgers.edu

 

Ms. Visone is scheduled to present a poster, described in the abstract below, between 11 am – 1 pm PT Saturday, Oct. 3 for the Section on Administration and Practice Management, H3062.

In addition, Ms. Visone, second-year medical student, will be among highlighted abstract authors who will give brief presentations and be available for interviews during a “Soundbite Session” from noon- 1 pm PT Sunday, Oct. 4, in the conference center Press Room, 14A.

 

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org. Reporters can access the meeting program and other relevant meeting information through the AAP meeting website at http://www.aapexperience.org/

 

ABSTRACT

Submission Type: Section on Administration and Practice Management 

Abstract Title: Administrative Gaps in Digital Patient Engagement: An Audit of Institutional Responsiveness to the 2025 Acetaminophen-Autism Controversy 

Jessica Visone 

In September 2025, claims linking prenatal acetaminophen use to autism spectrum disorder spread rapidly across social media, despite the lack of causal evidence. Pediatric families rely on trusted institutions, such as hospitals, state departments, and national organizations for accurate health information, yet little is known about how quickly and effectively these institutions respond during active health information controversies. This study audits the timeliness and quality of digital communications from pediatric organizations following messaging from the White House on September 22, 2025 linking acetaminophen use to autism, using guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) as a benchmark. 

We conducted a cross-sectional audit of public Instagram accounts between September 22 and November 15, 2025, from 65 health organizations, including the top children's hospitals for pediatric and adolescent behavioral health, professional medical societies, and state health departments serving the largest pediatric populations. We measured time to first relevant post, proportion of controversy-related content, and communication quality. Quality was assessed using Flesch-Kincaid grade level, SMOG index, multilingual availability, and accessibility features. All analyses were conducted in R version 4.5.3. 

Only 14 of 65 institutions (21.5%) posted content addressing the controversy. The AAP responded on Day 1 and published 10 relevant posts across the study period. No state health departments posted any relevant content. Among institutions that did post, hospital responses lagged up to 51 days behind the AAP. Non-responding institutions were not inactive: some published over 100 posts on unrelated topics during the same period, suggesting silence reflected administrative choice rather than limited capacity. Of the 26 relevant posts analyzed, 85% used plain-language formatting and myth-busting framing, but the average reading level was Flesch-Kincaid grade 11.4, well above the average 8th-grade reading level in the US. No multilingual content was identified across any institution. 

The AAP demonstrated that rapid, high-quality digital communication is achievable during a fast-moving health controversy. Most pediatric hospitals and all state health departments in this sample failed to match that standard, leaving families without institutional guidance during an active misinformation event. These findings point to a gap in administrative infrastructure and policy, not just content. Pediatric health systems should develop standardized rapid-response protocols that include pre-approved messaging templates written at or below an 8th-grade reading level, multilingual content, and clear internal processes for activating effective and accessible communication during emerging controversies. This study offers a practical framework for evaluating and strengthening that capacity to improve accessibility of health information for pediatric families, especially during periods of widespread misinformation. 

Figure 1. Timeline of Institutional Responses to the Acetaminophen–Autism Controversy. 

 

Horizontal bars represent the number of days from September 22, 2025, to each institution’s first relevant Instagram post, indicated by the point. Point size indicates the total number of relevant posts published by each institution during the study period. State health departments are not depicted due to lack of posts during study period. 

Figure 2. Prevalence of Content Quality and Accessibility Features in Relevant Instagram Posts (n = 26).  

 

Percentages indicate the proportion of posts incorporating specific digital communication features, grouped by format, content framing, emotional tone, and accessibility. 

 

 

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Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Administrative Gaps in Digital Patient Engagement: An Audit of Institutional Responsiveness to the 2025 Acetaminophen-Autism Controversy

Article Publication Date

2-Oct-2026

 

Heatwaves and secret emissions: Why nuclear power may not be as ‘green’ as you think

Copyright Daniel Kiss/MTI via AP

By Liam Gilliver

Published on 01/09/2026 - EURONEWS

The war on Iran has triggered calls to double down on nuclear power. But is it really ‘clean’, can Europe’s energy grid cope and will it survive the wrath of climate change?

The world stood still on 11 March 2011, when a major earthquake triggered a 15-metre tsunami that left an unforgettable scar on Japan’s east coast.

A series of powerful waves ripped through homes, businesses and roads – leaving more than 450,000 people homeless and killing 15,500. Alongside the chaos, the tsunami caused the meltdown of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, spewing out toxic, radioactive materials and forcing thousands to evacuate.

The event triggered global conversation about the safety of nuclear energy, leading several countries to plan to phase out nuclear energy or stop its expansion.

But 15 years later and the horrors of Fukushima have slowly been replaced with calls to double down on nuclear power, particularly following the war on Iran and its subsequent energy crisis. Speaking exclusively to Euronews, EU Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra listed nuclear as one of the power sources EU countries must lean on.

However, an expert from the University of Oxford has warned that new nuclear capacity will not fix today’s energy problems – urging policy makers to consider the true risks of nuclear.

“In the high‑renewables systems of Europe, the problem is increasingly not how to generate more electricity but how to access it when and where it’s needed,” says Dr Bettina Wittneben, a lecturer in Management at Oxford’s Saïd Business School and associate fellow at Pembroke College and the School of Geography and the Environment.

Related

Is nuclear power really ‘clean’?

Nuclear energy is often touted as a clean form of energy as it is low carbon at the point of generation.

In layman’s terms, nuclear reactors can create electricity without releasing carbon dioxide or smog-forming pollutants into the atmosphere. However, experts point out that this isn’t the full picture.

“The bulky concrete structures mean that it has a large amount of embodied carbon and, of course, it is not a renewable energy as it requires the mining of uranium, bringing with it carbon costs in terms of extraction and transport,” says Dr Bettina.

“Nuclear waste disposal and decommissioning must also be factored into the carbon budget of nuclear energy generation.”

Are nuclear power plants climate resilient?

Europe was scorched by back-to-back heatwaves this summer, which experts say would have been “virtually impossible” if it weren’t for climate change. The extreme heat, combined with scant rainfall, triggered droughts across much of the continent, draining some of Europe’s biggest rivers to record-level lows.

This forced several nuclear power plants to temporarily shut off or be set to a reduced output across France, Hungary and Romania.

Nuclear requires vast amounts of water, particularly for the cooling process, and is often known as the “thirstiest power source”. According to The Nuclear Energy Institute, one nuclear reactor requires between 1,514 and 2,725 litres of water per MWh – equating to hundreds of gigalitres every year.

It’s why nuclear power plants are often built near large bodies of water. Without a constant, reliable source of water a nuclear reactor risks overheating – which could lead to serious core damage and end up releasing harmful radiation into the environment.

Coal power and hydropower also suffered during the heatwave, but a surge in solar power helped meet heightened electricity demand from cooling devices such as air conditioning.

According to energy think-tank Ember, solar output in European countries rose by up to 17 per cent on heatwave days in June and July – becoming the only major power source to perform “better than usual” during hot weather.

'Hellbrise': Nuclear is not as reliable as some say

Intermittent forms of energy such as wind and solar are often blamed for overloading Europe’s outdated energy grid.

When electricity demand outstrips supply, surplus energy is often wasted – and can lead to negative electricity prices. This is often referred to as 'Hellbrise' (hell= bright, brise= breeze) and can occur on sunny, windy days.

“This is also the narrative of fossil fuel advocates, who present fossil gas as the saviour of the baseload, or the electricity that is available when renewables fall short,” says Dr Wittneben.

“Fossil fuel sceptics point instead to nuclear power as a reliable baseload technology.”

However, the expert points out that nuclear power plants are slow and costly to turn off, which means they only “amplify” the grid’s Hellbrise challenge – rather than present a solution to it.

The EU has recognised that battery energy storage systems (BESS) are a “crucial technology” to help prevent renewable energy from being wasted or entering sub-zero pricing. The logic is that batteries can store electricity produced by renewables during the day (when consumption tends to be low) and release it to households when demand increases in the evening.

Europe installed 36 GWh of new BESS in 2025, bringing its total operational capacity beyond 100 GWh for the first time. This is enough stored energy to power around 75 million homes.

Chart showing electricity sources in Europe and the World in 2025 Ember Electricity Data Explorer, ember-energy.org

Which EU countries have become reliant on nuclear power?

Last year, the European Union generated 652TWh of electricity from nuclear, representing 23.3 per cent of the bloc’s total electricity mix.

This was more than solar (13.1 per cent) and wind (17.1 per cent) – and put nuclear as the largest share of electricity generation for 2025.

More than half of this (392 TWh) was generated in France, which has the biggest nuclear output across the bloc. In fact, France generated more than two-thirds (68.8 per cent) of its electricity from nuclear last year.

This was followed by Spain (54.1 TWh), Sweden (46.7 TWh), Finland (32.8 TWh), Czechia (31.9 TWh), Belgium (24.1 TWh), Slovakia (19.3 TWh), Hungary (16.1 TWh), Bulgaria (14.8 TWh), Romania (10.2 TWh), Slovenia (5.83 TWh) and the Netherlands (3.99 TWh).

Because European power grids are interconnected, many countries that do not have active nuclear power plants can purchase electricity generated by nuclear power from other EU countries. In 2024, France was Europe’s biggest electricity exporter – and much of this was generated from nuclear power.

But not every EU country is onboard with running nuclear power plants, particularly following the Fukushima incident.

Back in 2020, Germany generated 170 TWh of electricity from nuclear – putting it as the second largest producer in the EU. This was the year the country first passed a legal plan to end nuclear power.

Germany officially stopped using nuclear power for electricity on April 15, 2023, when it shut down its three final operating reactors.

The move was described as a “grave strategic mistake” by Chancellor Friedrich Merz – and saw the country’s reliance on polluting fossil fuels temporarily increase to bridge the gap in energy supply.

However, a recent analysis from think-tank Energy Institute found that together wind and solar generated 44 per cent of Germany’s electricity in 2025, overtaking fossil fuels by one per cent.

At the same time, coal fell from supplying more than half of the country’s electricity in 2000 to just 21 per cent last year. Experts are now hopeful that Germany will be able to wean itself off coal completely before 2038.

Nearly 100 Groups Urge Congress to Reject GOP-Led Attacks on Clean Air Protections

If lawmakers pass four Congressional Review Act resolutions, the coalition warns, “families will experience consequences,” from further strained household budgets to breathing toxic air.


A traffic jam occurs on Interstate 95 in Miami, Florida.
(Photo by Wikimedia Commons)

Jessica Corbett
Aug 24, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

Dozens of organizations focused on consumer advocacy, the environment, health, science, and more came together on Monday for a letter urging the Republican-controlled US Congress to vote down four resolutions attacking clean air protections.

Signed by 95 groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice Action, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Progressives for Democracy in America, Public Citizen, and Sierra Club, the letter takes aim at four resolutions recently introduced by Republicans under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

The CRA allows lawmakers to overturn rules and regulations issued by federal agencies—and has already been used by Big Oil-backed President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress to roll back policies aimed at limiting pollution.

After Trump returned to power last year, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transmitted to Congress three emission waivers that the Biden administration granted to California, which led to CRA resolutions that lawmakers passed and the president signed—measures condemned at the time as his “latest betrayal of democracy” and a gift to polluters.

This past June, the Trump EPA announced that it was submitting four more to Congress, resulting in new resolutions that, as the letter notes, “seek to overturn four long-standing Clean Air Act preemption waivers that states rely on to protect the health and safety of their residents (HJRes. 202/SJRes 206, HJRes. 205/SJRes. 207, HJRes. 211/SJRes. 208, HJRes. 214/SJRes. 205).”

As the letter details, these resolutions target waivers for:Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles that the auto industry has already been complying with since 2009;
Smog-forming pollutant and GHG emissions limits for light-duty vehicles that the auto industry has already been complying with since 2015 (Advanced Clean Cars I (ACC I) program);
The 2022 reinstatement of the 2013 ACC I waiver (after the EPA unlawfully purported to withdraw it in 2019); and
The Small Off-Road Engine (SORE) amendments, which set exhaust standards for garden equipment and other polluting small engines in California (and cannot be adopted by other states).

These waivers “are essential for saving families money and protecting air quality,” and “given the affordability crisis facing millions of people today, it would be a disastrous waste of time and resources to attempt to nullify” them, the letter argues. “Vehicles and off-road engines currently in use already meet the standards that Congress is attacking—and these standards mean that our cars, trucks, and off-road engines cost less at the gas pump and that our air is cleaner. There’s nothing to fix.”

While votes for the resolutions are not yet planned, the coalition warned that “if Congress attempts to improperly block the implementation of these long-established state standards, families will experience consequences,” from breathing toxic air to further straining household budgets as “gas prices are skyrocketing” thanks to Trump’s illegal war on Iran.

Already, “more than 152 million people live in counties with unhealthy levels of ozone or particulate pollution,” the groups noted, citing the American Lung Association (ALA). “Smogforming pollution from combustion cars, trucks, lawn mowers, and leaf blowers can worsen asthma, decrease lung function, and lead to premature death, particularly in children and the elderly.”

“Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from transportation is singlehandedly responsible for up to 20,000 premature deaths each year,” they continued. “All of these burdens disproportionately affect communities of color and low-income communities who are more likely to live near major trucking routes and transportation hubs.”

Pointing to the ALA’s 2025 and 2026 reports that “document a stark reversal forcing more people to live in counties graded ‘F’ for ozone pollution,” the letter stresses that “the waivers are more essential than ever. These improper CRA resolutions threaten the ability of states to take action to protect their residents from harmful air pollution and its negative public health impacts.”