Congress gives industry free ride on back of environmental protections
Perhaps inspired by the triple-digit heat afflicting Washington D.C., the House of Representatives is putting legislative flames to our important environmental and public health protections.
This week, the House will consider a spending bill for the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Forest Service and other federal agencies. The bill is stuffed with open attacks by House Republicans on protections for our air, water, wildlife and iconic places.
Laden with nearly 40 so-called anti-environmental “riders”— policy provisions added to a measure having little or nothing to do with the appropriating funds—the bill hasn’t even reached the House floor yet. One provision will lift a moratorium on uranium mining near the Grand Canyon--one of the world’s seven natural wonders, and the only one in the U.S.
Another rider prevents the Fish and Wildlife Service from spending any money to implement important functions of the Endangered Species Act. The federal government would not be able to list new species as endangered or threatened, designate habitat critical to a species’ survival, or upgrade the status of any species from threatened to endangered. Immediately threatened by this action are the 260 candidates species that the Fish and Wildlife Service is considering for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
What are protected by these riders are polluters.
Rep. Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, attached a rider that would delay the EPA’s efforts to clean up lead, mercury, fine particles and other pollution from coal-fired power plants and prevent cross-state pollution. This single rider would mean that up to 51,000 people annually would die prematurely as a result of this air pollution, and our nation would lose approximately $420 billion annually in health care savings and missed days at work and school. There are six riders attacking clean air protections.
Another rider prevents the EPA from protecting our drinking water from the second largest industrial waste stream in the nation--toxic coal ash riddled with mercury, arsenic, chromium and lead. Enough coal ash is produced each year to fill a freight train stretching between the north and south poles.
Never before has there been such a blatant and aggressive attack on key environmental protections. This Congress, blinded by the misleading messages of big polluters, has carried the load for industries that simply don’t want to clean up their pollution.
There are 10 riders that attack clean water protections, including one that stops the administration from restoring the protections of the clean water act to tens of thousands of miles of streams and millions of acres of wetlands. Another stops the EPA from protecting Florida’s waters from outbreaks of toxic green slime caused by sewage, fertilizer and manure.
Earthjustice advocates will working around the clock to push back on this unprecedented assault on our environment and public health.
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I already have breathing problems. Please don't make me one of those 51,000 extra people who die bcause of increasing pollution. I live in Colorado which is supposed to be less polluted than the Midwest, but if we lose our protection out here, where can I turn? Canada???
I hate polluters. They are so greedy and selfish. They should be held accountable for doing stupid things to the environment. The future depends on clean air and clean water. Lives for the future are at stake, and we got to get tougher to stop any more pollution.
I have an environmental illness and we call ourselves the canary in the coal mine. I have tried warning others,but no one seems to care about it much.We are in great danger and the wealthy polluters and their sycophants in public office thwart any attempts at change we try to implement. I have a great sadness about our path towards destruction.I try to remain hopeful....
I've lived in a coal town, visited a paper factory town and a steel town. When they are the only places you can find a job, that's what you've got to deal with. That was then. Now is now, and those kind of conditions DON'T HAVE TO EXIST ANYMORE, with the technology we now have. The reason they STILL DO EXIST is that those who produce the pollution as bi-products of their industry DON'T WANT TO SPEND PROFITS to improve the environment. Their bottom line is more important to them. However, they are very short-sighted, and see only the short-term gains. They would more profitable in the long run if they started to invest in cleaner energy technology. And...of course, those executives more than likely don't live where the pollution is being produced.
I wonder what the polluters think of the fact that they are poisoning and sickening and shortening the lives of those who live where the pollution is being excreted. And how do they see the future of their children in this equation?
I am beginning to feel that money the "root of all evil" has indeed delivered us to total destruction of the planet and human beings. I have fought for the environment for many years. But, I have come to the sad conclusion that all is lost to greed buy the 1% of us who have all the monetary wealth and no spiritual wealth.
Nameste, Odin
Profits over people, corporations rule us all with a mailed fist. The recent 5-4 Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case will seal the earth's coffin as Exxon, BP and JP Morgan Chase will buy our government and run it as their own corporate police force, shutting down regulatory agencies and smashing any opposition to deregulation - the systematic elimination of protections for employees, consumers and the environment. Rise up, fools, or perish.
I have Parkinsons Disease at the age of 69. It is unknown what causes it but it is beginning to emerge that pesticides and poisons in the air, water and even foods may have some bearing on whether or not you come down with this painful, deadly disease.
Since our country's founding, America has been intimately tied to the land, air and water. But now the House is preparing to annihilate our heritage in one slash and burn bill: a bill that will literally cost lives.
The 2012 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill is loaded down with dangerous policy riders, including:
- Opening the Grand Canyon to uranium mining and our coasts to oil drilling.
- Putting our health at risk by slashing funding for the EPA and blocking safeguards against deadly mercury and other toxic pollution.
- Endangering our wild places and wildlife by defunding the endangered species act and land conservation.
- Blocking the EPA from using the Clean Water Act to protect our water from waste dumping, pesticides, sewage, fertilizers, oil spills, and also from safeguarding drinking water sources for 117 million Americans.
Why do we even have riders on our bills??They most certainly do not cause a bill to be partisan. And make no mistake these are OUR bills! Please make sure when voting for any bill that it does not contain riders which weaken or even negate the bill itself. Our health and well-being are at stake!
This bill cannot be fixed. Instead, the House and Senate must pass a clean bill with adequate funding that protects our country's great legacy. Our forefathers' history and our children's future are at stake.
I have lost faith in our governmental process. We are poisoning the well and destroying anything good about civilization. I am a teacher and the phrase "downfall of education" is only a downfall because it's spin. Teachers work their heads off and love the children. Everyone I meet has a destruction story about the field of work they do. We return to feudal times.
Greed - Ours personally and that of our proxies - industry and the politicians that industry buys. Let's face facts; the majority of "us" simply do not give a damn about the environment, other people's health or in fact whether they live or die. "We" are immune to their suffering and the evil of our actions; so long as we have cheap energy, our large cars, etc..
Yes, it is hopeless because deep within the extreme majority, at the very heart of our natures, lies this cancerous self interest, to the exclusion of all that is decent or moral. Our politicians and industries are simple the reflection of our inner selves.
I will continue to donate and speak, but I fear that I am only talking to myself.
WE MUST HAVE PROTECTION OF OUR AIR, WATER, AND LAND PRESERVED AND IMPROVED NOT DESTROYED. REMOVAL OF SOME AIR PROTECTION ALONE WILL CAUSE 51,000 PREMATURE DEATHS AND COST $420 BILLION IN LOST WORK DAYS AND HEALTH CARE IN JUST ONE YEAR!
How can you expect this group of vandals to have any regard for the environment when they are busy taking everything but our drawers from us.
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