As the new home of RIPIRG's environmental work, Environment Rhode Island can be contacted regarding this news release.
PROVIDENCE—Members
of the General Assembly and the Rhode Island Congressional delegation have joined
a growing coalition of environmentalists, health advocates and faith-based communities
in opposing the Bush Administration's "Clear Skies" bill.
Sen. Lincoln Chafee is a
member of the United State Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works,
which is scheduled to vote on the bill tomorrow. In a press conference at the
Rhode Island State House, the coalition urged Sen. Chafee, to continue standing
strong for public health and the environment by voting against the Clear Skies
bill, which would weaken and delay reductions in soot, smog and toxic mercury
pollution while doing nothing to address emissions of global warming pollution.
Political analysts suggest that Sen. Chafee holds the key vote that could turn
the committee.
At the event, Attorney General
Patrick C. Lynch urged Sen. Chafee to oppose the legislation that Lynch derided
as "a blueprint for energy industry profitability that's masquerading as
an environmental-protection bill." Lynch weighed in with concerns that
Clear Skies would take away important legal tools that Rhode Island can use
to crack down on upwind polluters. "Essentially, the President's plan would
gut the Clean Air Act. At a time when tens of millions of Americans live in
areas that, according to the EPA's own standards, fail basic public health protections
for air quality, we should not be gutting our existing clean air safeguards.
Now is the time to redouble our efforts-not dilute them."
In a letter to Environment
and Public Works Committee Chairman, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, United
States Congressmen Jim Langevin and Patrick Kennedy also indicated their opposition
to Clear Skies. The letter noted that, "Global warming pollution 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 current Clean Air Act, not by weakening the law."
In a statement released
Tuesday, Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian noted that, "Passage of this initiative
would have devastating effects on our environment and would undo years of hard
work by federal, state and local legislators who have fought to ensure that
our air, water and other natural resources are protected and restored. Sen.
Chafee has been a staunch supporter of pro-environmental policies throughout
his tenure with the City of Warwick and in the United States Senate. I am confident
that he will do everything in his power to ensure passage of bi-partisan legislation
that will strengthen existing laws and address the concerns of the many people
who feel that the Clear Skies legislation will decimate the health and environmental
policies that have been in place for decades."
Providence Mayor David Cicilline
has also written Sen. Chafee a letter on behalf of the people of Providence
and urged him to continue the "fight courageously led by his esteemed late
father, Senator John H. Chafee to reduce air and water pollution."
A coalition of local organizations
led by RIPIRG and Clean Water Action has also mobilized public opposition to
Clear Skies. The Rhode Island Medical Society, the Rhode Island State Council
of Churches, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Save the Bay are among the
list of sixty Rhode Island based groups that have spoken out against Clear Skies.
At the press conference
RIPIRG referenced Rhode Island's existing air pollution problems and noted that
the entire state of Rhode Island fails to meet federal air quality standards
and has had 50 air quality alert days since 2000. Air pollution from power plants
and industrial facilities has been linked to health effects including asthma
attacks, lung cancer, heart attacks, and premature death.
"Rhode Island has severe
air pollution problems and need cleaner air, not clean air rollbacks,"
stated Matt Auten, an Advocate with the Rhode Island Public Interest Research
Group (RIPIRG). "Trying to solve our pollution problems by passing Clear
Skies is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. "Sen. Chafee has
been a clean air champion in the past and we urge him to continue his courageous
efforts," Auten continued.
"Air pollution has
huge public health impacts here in Rhode Island," stated Margaret Kane,
Executive Director of the American Lung Association of Rhode Island. "Over
100,000 Rhode Islanders suffer from asthma, including 19,000 children. At a
time when Rhode Island is getting an 'F' for outdoor air quality we need to
be thinking about strengthening the Clean Air Act, not gutting it," Kane
said.
In addition to the problems
of soot and smog pollution, the groups also pointed out that the President's
plan would allow more mercury pollution from power plants. "Our mercury
contamination is already so severe that the Department of Health has issued
an advisory warning that women of childbearing age and young children should
not eat any freshwater fish caught in Rhode Island," said Emily Rochon,
Climate Campaign Coordinator for Clean Water Acton. "Clear Skies would
allow 6-7 times more mercury into the air than the current Clean Air Act,"
she continued.
In addition to out-of -state
power plants and refineries, other industrial facilities will be allowed to
pollute more under Clear Skies according to a report released by RIPIRG today.
The report, Lethal Loophole, found that as many as 34 industrial facilities
in Rhode Island would not have to comply with Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) rules that require steep reductions in their emissions of dozens of pollutants
that cause cancer, birth defects, and other serious health problems.
"Clear Skies will always
be a bad deal for anyone who wants to breathe clean air," said Auten. "This
hidden loophole for some of the worst industrial polluters makes it even worse.
We need Senator Chafee to continue to stand up for clean air tomorrow by voting
against Clear Skies."
The groups also released
a fact sheet showing that Clear Skies 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; and repeal protections that
require every power plant to reduce mercury to the maximum extent (about 90
percent) by 2008.
