Clean Air Act Confronts Three-Pronged Attack in Senate
For Immediate Release
March 29, 2011
Contact:
Kelly Trout, 202-222-0722, [email protected]
Matthew Cain, 202-222-0751, [email protected]
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 recent study 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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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.