The Council shows support for EPA

This past Valentines Day, Clean Air Council, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, PennEnvironment and the Service Employees International Union  (SEIU) delivered 1,500 valentines to the EPA Region 3 office in downtown Philadelphia. The Valentines expressed support for EPA's plans to move forward with air pollution regulations that will protect public health.

However early on the morning of Saturday, February 19, 2011, the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives passed what the Clean Air Council views as the broadest and most dangerous assault on public health in recent history.

 

The funding bill H.R. 1, also known as a continuing resolution, which was passed by a vote of 235-189, prevents the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from taking any action to reduce carbon pollutants from coal-fired power plants and other major sources of air pollution. Furthermore, the legislation includes the largest percentage cut to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget in 30 years – budget cuts that will cripple the agency’s ability to protect public health from harmful air pollutants.

 

In 2010 alone, clean air regulations are estimated to have saved over 160,000 lives and avoided over 100,000 hospital visits. The public health benefits of laws such as the Clean Air Act outweigh the costs to industry of reducing their pollution by as much as 30:1. The Council urges Senators Casey and Toomey to oppose such attacks on public health when this bill is brought before the Senate.