House re-opens assault against EPA, Interior

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House begins voting today on HR 2822, The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Act, 2016. The bill would cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by $718 million, nine percent below current levels. It also includes more than 20 policy riders which block key regulatory measures such as new rules on fracking, the Clean Power Plan and ozone pollution limits.

Although the Obama administration has already promised to veto the bill in its current form, amendments are being considered on the floor to further undermine environmental protections.

Friends of the Earth Climate and Energy Campaigner Lukas Ross offers the following statement in advance of today’s floor votes:

Equipped with spending cuts and policy riders, House Republican leadership has presented a vision for an impotent Environmental Protection Agency unable to defend public health or the environment from corporate polluters. They are doing this by taking aim at 40 years worth of bipartisan environmental protection. Attacks against the Environmental Protection Agency are attacks on the American people and the clean air and clean water we need to survive.

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Expert contact: Lukas Ross, (202) 222-0724, [email protected]
Communications contact: Kate Colwell, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]