4 Feb 2010
- Urgent vote coming: Tell congress to protect the clean air act
From Physicians for Social Responsibility:
The Clean Air Act, our only regulatory tool to cut carbon emissions and prevent catastrophic climate change, is under attack. Over the past 40 years the Clean Air Act has been critically important, limiting dangerous air pollutants and saving countless lives. To protect our nation’s health, we need your help!
Recently I contacted you about Senator Murkowski’s plan to block the EPA from controlling global warming pollution. Now the situation has worsened. In a surprise move, Senator Murkowski introduced a “joint resolution of disapproval” rejecting the EPA’s scientific finding that carbon dioxide and other global warming pollutants threaten human health and the environment. Her joint resolution enables Congress to veto federal agency rules using special, expedited procedures. If passed, it would derail current and future EPA actions to control carbon pollution from all sources, including motor vehicles and large emitters such as coal-fired power plants.
Meanwhile, members in the House are racing to introduce bills that would exclude greenhouse gases from regulation as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
These combined efforts would remove the teeth from the one federal agency that is mandated to protect our health from air pollutants.
Your senators and representatives must hear from you. The oil and coal industries are lobbying heavily to maintain their ability to burn carbon-heavy fuels without regulation. We have to stand up against their efforts and protect the EPA. Please email and call your senators and representatives today and urge them to defend the Clean Air Act.
