NRDC
Posted September 30, 2011
The week of October 2nd, two bills aimed at blocking critical health protections against mercury and other toxic air pollution from incinerators and boilers (H.R. 2250) [pdf] and cement plants (H.R. 2681) [pdf] are expected to be brought up for a House floor vote. These bills continue the deadly trend of the Cantor Pollution Plan – rolling back clean air safeguards and putting millions of American lives at risk.
Last week saw adoption of the most extreme attack on the Clean Air Act ever to pass the House, legislation called the TRAIN Act (H.R. 2401). This Act repeals and blocks smog, soot, mercury and air toxics standards for power plants that would save over 130,000 lives and avoid over 1 million asthma attacks.
Like the TRAIN Act does with power plants, H.R. 2250 and H.R. 2681 nullify existing clean air standards for cement plants, incinerators and industrial boilers that collectively number in the thousands emitting mercury, arsenic, lead and cancer-causing toxins into our communities. Then these two bills allow the indefinite delay of compliance with these toxic air pollution standards, providing no guarantee of reductions even within a decade. Both bills forbid EPA from issuing final standards for these facilities for 15 months and also eliminate any deadlines by which industrial polluters must meet final standards once they are issued.
Even more irresponsibly, these bills severely weaken the Clean Air Act and overturn multiple federal court decisions to gut strong toxic air pollution standards that under current law must be applied to achieve deep cuts in dangerous mercury, lead, dioxins and acid gases from these facilities. See pages 10-13 and 16-17 of my Congressional testimony opposing the 2 bills here [pdf].
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has testified that weakening changes to the Clean Air Act included in the TRAIN Act – changes that are essentially identical to provisions in the cement, incinerator, and boiler bills -- “weaken and possibly destroy our ability to ever address those toxins, toxic pollutants” like “mercury and arsenic and lead and hydrochloric acid.” [Video testimony, starting at minute 50:50].
Cement plants and industrial boilers are two of the largest industrial emitters of mercury in the United States. Giving these industries a free pass, while over 100 other industries have already controlled their toxic pollution makes no sense and will seriously harm Americans’ health.
Incinerators and industrial boilers spew toxic air pollution such as cancer-causing dioxins, arsenic, and mercury and lead, which harm children’s brains. EPA is currently reconsidering toxic air pollution standards for these facilities and expects to finalize them by April of 2012. H.R. 2250 blocks critical health protections against mercury and toxic air pollution that are already a decade overdue. The bill blocks final standards by a minimum of 3.5 more years.Cement plants also spew mercury and other deadly toxic air pollution. EPA finalized toxic air pollution standards for cement plants one year ago, in September 2010. These standards already are thirteen years overdue, and H.R. 2681 would further delay standards by a minimum of 4.5 years.
Both bills, however, then gratuitously repeal longstanding Clean Air Act compliance deadlines, thereby allowing actual compliance with any future standards to be delayed indefinitely. As summarized below, these delays will result in vastly more asthma attacks, more illness, and more avoidable deaths.
According to EPA’s analysis [pdf], as summarized in a recent White House blog, these two bills collectively would mean, at a minimum:
- 32,500 more premature deaths;
- 19,500 additional heart attacks; and
- 208,000 asthma attacks that otherwise would have been avoided.
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He has stopped regulations that harm business this month.
Isn't it obvious to those Obamites, that the only job he cares about is his own.
Obama has performed a miracle. After the failed Presidency of George Bush I thought that it would take a decade for the Republicans to gain control of the Federal Government. But Obama has managed to have a Republican House elected last year and it is all but assured there will be a Republican Senate in 2012. But,I would have thought it impossible for the Republicans to win the Presidency in 2012. Not anymore. The combination of failure and feebleness has made the Republicans the favorite.
As a Libertarian, all I can say is.
"Mission accomplished". Progressive philosophy is discredited.
C. ALEXANDER BROWN
It is very distressing to see the back downs and the cave ins day after day.
Whatever implications it may have on you personally, it is all the more disheartening to see the Office of the President being degraded.
You are the commander in chief of our troops. Please take some heed from them and learn to fight your own battles.
Else, step aside and let others take the hot seat.
Maybe you do not have to look as far back as Abe Lincoln for a role model. Perhaps an LBJ would be more fitting in your situation, when he stepped aside for a job he no more felt connected to.
Note to myself: Next time I vote for a rookie, I will keep my irrational enthusiasm in check and first count how many "present" votes that candidate has voted.
Some posters here are asking things like 'when is he going to stand up for what he believes?'.
Once you figure out that the only thing Obama cares about or believes in is the re-election of Obama, then all his recent actions make perfect sense.
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Earth to Judy. No matter how much Obama tries to compromise or whatever he proposes, the house approves and enacts legislation. Clearly he’s realist and understands that the house is controlled by the GOP who were put there by an electorate in 2010 on the message to make Obama fail, and they are hell-bent to do so, no question. They are recklessly and doggedly pursuing this aim, regardless of the mandate Obama got when he was elected. He is powerless to do anything about it. This is after all how democracy works in america where the people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.