Clean Air Act Confronts Three-Pronged Attack in Senate

Para su publicación inmediata
March 29, 2011

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Clean Air Act Confronts Three-Pronged Attack in Senate

Environmental group calls for renewal of veto commitment on all measures aimed at rolling back clean air protections

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), and Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) are each threatening to introduce amendments to roll back crucial parts of the Clean Air Act this week.

Each amendment would obstruct the Obama administration’s implementation of science-based pollution safeguards under the Clean Air Act, a law that saved 160,000 lives and prevented 1.7 million asthma attacks in 2010 alone, according to a estudio reciente by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“A vote for the McConnell, Baucus or Rockefeller Clean Air Act attacks would be a vote to sacrifice the health and well-being of Americans on the mantle of bigger profits for polluter giants like Exxon Mobil,” said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth.

“The serious impacts of climate change—from extreme weather to rising food prices—are already harming people in America. Just as no sane person would respond to a robbery by handcuffing the police, no honest senator would respond to the climate crisis by handcuffing the most powerful agent for solving it,” added Pica.

“As the despicable attacks on the Clean Air Act mount, President Obama’s leadership becomes ever more critical. His aides have already made it clear that they would recommend a veto. The President must reiterate this commitment and establish beyond a shadow of a doubt his determination to veto each and every attempt to gut this life-saving law,” urged Pica.

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