The following statement is from Coby Dolan, Earthjustice Senior Legislative Counsel

“The Portman-Heitkamp bill introduced today in the U.S. Senate is a poorly disguised gift to corporate polluters at the expense of the public—plain and simple. If this bill became law it would unleash an avalanche of bureaucratic hurdles and litigation by polluters, while stretching already tight agency budgets—all of which will cripple our government’s ability to safeguard our communities and environment.

“We should be making it easier to implement our bedrock environmental and public interest laws, not harder. We should be giving agencies more resources to do their job, not less. Our environmental and public health laws were enacted to provide clean air and water for all, work environments and schools free from toxins, and consumer products that won’t make us sick or cause injury. The bill violates this foundational principle by not putting American’s health and safety first. We will stand arm in arm with our allies to fight it at every turn.”