Photo by Erik Alsgaard
Elizabeth Chun Hye Lee
Elizabeth Chun Hye Lee, United Methodist Women executive for economic and environmental justice, testifies on methane regulations before the Environmental Protection Agency.
United Methodist Women is mobilizing members to tell the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce Methane regulations. The organization issued an urgent call to action to solicit member comments opposing the EPA proposed two-year delay on methane regulations needed to protect the health of the earth and the most vulnerable.
“The two-year stay would harm the health of children, increase global warming, and waste resources God has given us,” said Elizabeth Chun Hye Lee, United Methodist Women executive for economic and environmental justice. “A two-year stay would mean that over 18,000 wells would not have methane regulations needed to protect over 200,000 people living within a half-mile of these wells, of whom 51,000 are children.”
Lee said many of the organization’s members live or worship near oil rigs, fracking sites, compression stations or pipelines, and that many people are sick because of inhaling toxins from these places.
In July, Lee and two United Methodist Women members— Jeanne Long of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Daryl Junes-Joe of Shiprock, New Mexico—testified against the delay at an EPA public hearing on Capitol Hill.
United Methodist Women will submit members’ public comments to the EPA to show their collective concern.
Climate justice is one of United Methodist Women’s four mission priorities launched in 2016. Economic inequality, maternal and child health, and mass incarceration and the criminalization of communities of color are also mission priorities for United Methodist Women.
United Methodist Women is the largest denominational faith organization for women, turning faith, hope and love into action on behalf of women, children and youth since 1869.