Some people out there seem to think we'd be better off without the EPA, which for forty years has protected the health of all Americans by cracking down on corporate polluters and the life-threatening air pollution they recklessly dump. Others want to abolish it altogether.
Sadly, it hasn’t taken long for some in the new Congress to throw in their lot with this polluter-driven agenda. The Hill is reporting that some House members are backing a bill to abolish the EPA's power to do its job to protect us from carbon pollution, which will give polluters a free pass to dump it into our air without limit.
By taking this radical step the first week of the new Congress, these members are showing their true colors – that they are ready to stand with the most extreme elements in order to let corporate polluters off the hook and dump as much carbon pollution into the air as they want. Its even sadder to watch them read right out of the playbook that polluters like Koch Industries and the Tea Party are writing. It doesn't take much reading to realize the effort to abolish the EPA's ability to do one of its jobs may only be a first step.
Make no mistake about it. Anyone who supports this bill is helping to light the Tea Party fuse to blow up the Clean Air Act and the EPA. As I mentioned yesterday, even former moderates like Chairman Fred Upton are opposing EPA's efforts to update the Clean Air Act to reduce toxic pollution. We need to resist any efforts by Congress to block the EPA's ability to protect our health. This little video helps explain why:
Update: three members of Congress have introduced bills to abolish the EPA's ability to put limits on carbon pollution. They are Rep Marsha Blackburn (TN-7) who has introduced H.R.97, Rep Ted Poe (TX-2) who introduced H.R.153 and Rep Shelley Moore Capito (WV-2).