“Dirty Air Act” Is a Step In The WRONG Direction!

Last month’s long-overdue declaration from the Environmental Protection Agency, that carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels is a pollutant that endangers human health, and CO2 emissions should be regulated under the Clean Air Act, was a step in the right direction. Unfortunately last week, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) proposed an amendment, which will do absolutely nothing to regulate CO2 emissions and is a step backwards, considering all that we’ve learned in the last decade about the dangers of greenhouse gas emissions.

As part of an agreement that allowed the Senate to leave Washington before Christmas, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) gave Republicans the chance to offer amendments to a must-pass bill lifting the debt ceiling, which would increase the amount of debt the United States is legally allowed to have.

Senator Lisa Murkowski considered various proposals related to climate change and proposed an amendment that would prohibit the EPA from regulating CO2 emissions from big polluters, which it is required to do under the Clean Air Act, for one full year. Murkowski justified her amendment, saying it “would give Congress the time it needs to develop a reasonable response to climate change”. In fact, the Murkowski amendment, or “Dirty Air Act”, would only serve as a delay tactic, preventing Congress from moving forward with real clean energy legislation. It would also undermine the Clean Air Act, strip the EPA of its regulatory powers, and allow big corporations to continue polluting without any repercussions. The fact that lobbyists representing big energy corporations helped to write the amendment clearly illustrates that the goal of the amendment was to gut the Clean Air Act, not promote a discussion about effective clean energy legislation.

Fortunately, Senator Murkowski did not get the necessary votes last week to bring the bill to the Senate floor. But it is likely that she will continue to push an updated version of this “Dirty Air Act”, and with the support of the fossil fuel lobby, this bill could present a real threat to clean energy. We cannot allow one senator, working for the dirty energy lobby instead of her constituents, to undermine the authority of the EPA and derail all the progress we’ve made towards clean energy legislation.

Take Action! Let Senator Stabenow know that we need clean energy legislation now, and ask her to reject Senator Murkowski’s Dirty Air Act and any other amendment that threatens the health of our air and water!