Sen.
Lincoln D. Chafee is trying to hammer out an eleventh-hour compromise
before a scheduled vote on the Bush administration's controversial
Clear Skies Act of 2005. The bill is scheduled for a vote today by the
Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, of which Chafee is
a member and a key vote.
"Chafee
has put in some amendments, and a number of things are being
discussed," said Stephen Hourahan, a spokesman for the senator.
Unless
wholesale changes are made, Hourahan said the senator will vote against
the bill. Chafee could be a critical swing vote in the 18-member
committee which is made up of 10 Republicans, 7 Democrats, and 1
independent.
Environmental
groups and state politicians have thrown their support behind a "no"
vote, saying that the bill threatens to nullify many of the standards
and regulations installed by the Clean Air Act of 1970.
Critics
of the new legislation say that Rhode Islanders would specifically feel
the impact if power plants were no longer required to install modern
pollution controls and reduce mercury and other air toxins by 90
percent by 2008. Rhode Island would also be barred from taking action
against upwind polluters for 10 years.
"The
Bush administration has shown callous disregard for our health and our
environment," Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said during a press
conference with environmental activists at the State House yesterday.
"We need strong leaders to take a stand, and Chafee has done that for
us. I urge him to hold his ground."
Lynch
added that if the bill passed, it could make it harder to prosecute
industrial polluters, and that the bill is more suited to protecting
industry than the environment.
"Now is the time to redouble our efforts, not dilute them," he said.
Matt
Auten, an advocate for the Rhode Island Public Interest Research Group,
also urged Chafee to vote no, and said the bill, even if passed in an
amended form, will roll back many standards set by the Clean Air Act,
which he called "the most important environmental legislation in the
last 35 years."
"Rolling back clean air laws is not the way to improve the situation," Auten said. "It's like fighting fire with gasoline."
In
addition to Lynch, other Rhode Island officeholders have voiced their
opposition to the bill: Mayor David N. Cicilline, Warwick Mayor Scott
Avedisian, U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy and U.S. Rep. James R.
Langevin, both Democrats, have all written letters to the Republican
Chafee or other Senate committee members.
"Global
warming threatens to erode our coast, put our shoreline residents at
risk and disrupt our booming beach tourist industry. We must combat
these problems by strengthening the enforcement of the Clean Air Act,
not be weakening the law. . . . The Clear Skies Act would negatively
impact Rhode Island's economy, the public health of our citizens, and
our environment," said Kennedy and Langevin in a joint letter to
committee Chairman Sen. James M. Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma.
With
the current state of air quality in Rhode Island, residents should be
breathing cleaner air, said Emily Rochon of Clean Water Action. If the
bill passed, it would "mark the first time in over 30 years that the
United States has weakened federal protections on our air," Rochon said.
"Citizens have a right to breathe clean air that does not give them asthma, contribute to heart attacks or cause cancer."
The bill can be viewed in its entirety on the Web at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.00131:
Discussion and a vote is scheduled for 3 p.m. Committee approval is needed before a full Senate debate and vote.
Scott
Lowe has a fellowship with the Metcalf Institute for Marine and
Environmental Reporting. He can be reached at slowe [at] projo.com
