In anticipation of the Senate’s upcoming June 10 vote on a resolution by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) intended to reverse the Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and will be regulated under the Clean Air Act, a bipartisan group of 13 lead state environmental officials wrote a letter Friday to Senate leaders urging them to vote down this detrimental and misdirected resolution.

The following statement is from Earthjustice senior legislative representative Sarah Saylor:

“We applaud these leaders from among the nation’s largest and most populous states who have joined together to speak out against Sen. Murkowski’s dangerous resolution to undermine the Clean Air Act. At a time when our nation should be putting all our efforts into clean-energy solutions, her legislation bails out the oil and coal industries and tethers our economy to the dirty, fossil fuels of the past, against a backdrop of the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

“These state leaders are demonstrating the kind of leadership our nation needs from Congress right now. And they are absolutely right: If the Senate sides with Senator Murkowski, it would be moving in the wrong direction and casting aside an effective tool for addressing our critical energy and environmental challenges. When the Senate votes on June 10 it should be a vote of confidence in the existing law, which will be a vote in favor of the health, economy, future, and prosperity of the American people.”