Upton and Inhofe Launch Clean Air Act Assault
For Immediate Release
February 3, 2011
Contact:
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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Friends of the Earth and our network of grassroots groups in 76 countries fight to create a more healthy, just world. Our current campaigns focus on clean energy and solutions to climate change, keeping toxic and risky technologies out of the food we eat and products we use, and protecting marine ecosystems and the people who live and work near them.