Upton and Inhofe Launch Clean Air Act Assault

Para su publicación inmediata
February 3, 2011

Contacto:
Kelly Trout, 202-222-0722, [email protected]
Matthew Cain, 202-222-0751, [email protected]

Upton and Inhofe Launch Clean Air Act Assault

Latest polluter-lobbyist-backed attack on clean air underscores need for presidential veto commitment

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congressman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, yesterday joined with Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a notorious climate-science-denier, to launch the latest assault on the Clean Air Act.

The Upton-Inhofe discussion draft proposes eliminating Clean Air Act protections against smokestack and other types of pollution causing the climate crisis.

Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica had the following response:

“Chairman Upton’s attempt to roll back critical Clean Air Act protections is shameful evidence of his determination to turn his committee into a protection bureau for corporate polluters.

“Upton has hired a cadre of lobbyists to staff the Energy Committee—creating a fox guarding the henhouse situation—and he’s held secretive meetings with polluters to get their blessing for his dirty energy agenda. Now we see the result: a bill that endangers the health of the American public in order to protect polluter profits.

“This latest in a series of lobbyist-backed initiatives to cripple clean air and water protections underscores the importance of President Obama’s veto powers.

“President Obama must publicly commit to vetoing any and all Clean Air Act rollbacks.”

A Huffington Post piece by Erich Pica about how Chairman Upton has abandoned his once-moderate positions and embraced a radical dirty energy agenda is available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erich-pica/the-curious-case-of-fred-_b_817466.html

A clearinghouse of information on Chairman Upton’s budding polluter collusion is available at: /news/archives/2011-02-upton-watch

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Amigos de la Tierra y nuestra red de organizaciones de base en 76 países luchan por crear un mundo más sano y justo. Nuestras campañas actuales se centran en la energía limpia y las soluciones al cambio climático, en mantener las tecnologías tóxicas y peligrosas fuera de los alimentos que consumimos y los productos que utilizamos, y en proteger los ecosistemas marinos y a las personas que viven y trabajan cerca de ellos.