September 15, 2003

CLEAN AIR COUNCIL STATEMENT ON THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND AIR POLLUTION

Arthur Stamoulis, Field Organizer:

"Pennsylvania has some of the worst air quality in the nation. In the southeastern region of the state, there were more than fifteen days this summer when the smog was so bad that people were advised to limit their activities outdoors.

"These were days when air pollution made it dangerous for kids to run around outside. Dangerous for seniors with respiratory problems to walk to the mailbox. Dangerous for perfectly healthy adults to go out for a jog. Dangerous for construction workers and road crews to simply do their jobs.

"Confronted by such a serious public health problem, President Bush should be doing everything in his power to clean up our air. But rather than force polluters to obey the law and clean up their acts, the Bush administration has sided firmly with the corporate special interests that filthy our air.

"In late August, the Bush administration announced the largest rollback of the Clean Air Act in history-and our children's health will suffer because of it.

"Using EPA's own calculations, a national nonprofit called Clear the Air estimates that these rollbacks will shorten the lives of 20,000 Americans every year, trigger 400,000 unnecessary asthma attacks, and cause 12,000 cases of chronic bronchitis.

"Southeastern Pennsylvania will be among the hardest hit by these health effects. Some of the biggest, dirtiest power plants in the nation are just upwind of Delaware County in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Indiana. The pollution from these plants gets carried downwind straight into our children's lungs.

"The president is now taking the attack on our air quality one step further. President Bush and his industrial allies have hatched a plan to keep the long, free ride going for dirty power plants. Today, the president proclaims the alleged benefits of his so-called 'Clear Skies Initiative.' But far from being a breath of fresh air, this attempt to gut the Clean Air Act would substantially weaken clean air protections already on the books, allowing power plants to emit greater levels of pollution over greater periods of time than does current law.

"When the Bush administration allows big corporations to rewrite the nation's environmental laws so they can pollute our air, it's our families' health that suffers. The White House is not taking Pennsylvania's smog problem seriously. It is long past time for Pennsylvania's representatives in Congress to intervene to protect the health of their constituents."

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Clean Air Council is committed to the belief that everyone has the right to breathe clean, healthful air.

Founded in 1967, the Council is the oldest member-supported environmental organization in the state. The Council's team of attorneys, community organizers, and policy analysts focuses its efforts on the following key areas: Clean Air Act, Clean Energy, Sustainable Transportation, Waste Reduction and Recycling, and Indoor Air Quality.