LOS ANGELES—The Senate Environment
and Public Works Committee today cast the first ever vote on the Bush administration's
"Clear Skies" bill (S.131), rejecting the measure on a 9-9 tie.
"This is a stunning victory for public health," said Sujatha Jahagirdar, Clean
Air Advocate for Environment California. "It's great news for the American people,
and bad news for the polluting energy companies who were looking forward to
this sweetheart deal." "We commend Senator Boxer for working to defeat this
disastrous bill."
Today's vote comes after
months of delay as Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) attempted to increase
support for the bill. In the end, the bill was defeated due to criticism from
committee members over provisions that would have repealed and weakened the
Clean Air Act. Senators Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) and James Jeffords (I-VT) joined
all seven Democrats in voting against the bill. Additional opposition in the
Republican ranks grew as well, as Senator John Warner (R-VA) submitted an amendment
to strip out measures that weaken clean air protections for national parks.
The bill would delay until
well after 2018 reductions in power plant sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide
emissions called for in the Clean Air Act by the end of this decade; repeal
the Clean Air Act's New Source Review program, which requires the oldest and
dirtiest plants to eventually meet modern pollution standards; force residents
of heavily-polluted areas to wait longer for clean air than under current law;
repeal protections that require every power plant to reduce mercury to the maximum
extent (about 90 percent) by 2008; and allow oil refineries, chemical plants,
and many other industries to "opt in" to the bill and opt out of major portions
of the Clean Air Act, including existing EPA rules that require steep reductions
in their emissions of dozens of pollutants that cause cancer, birth defects,
and other serious health problems.
Many industrial facilities
are major contributors to the public health problems we have in California,"
said Jahagirdar. "These pollutants contribute to asthma attacks, heart and lung
disease, learning disabilities, and even death. The last thing we needed is
a sweetheart deal for polluters."
