House Energy Spending Bill Cuts Key Funding, Permits Anti-Environmental "Riders" to Move Forward

WASHINGTON (June 15, 2011) -- The House Appropriations Committee today approved the FY 2012 Energy and Water appropriations bill that would slash spending on alternative energy research and limit clean water protections. 

Scott Slesinger, legislative director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, issued the following statement:

"This bill represents a giant step backward for energy, health and environmental protection, and is part of a continuing Republican campaign to add anti-environmental riders to spending bills.  Such riders don’t save the United States a single cent but instead just hobble environmental protections.  As approved, this rider casts in doubt whether the streams and wetlands that provide drinking water and flood protection are covered by the Clean Water Act.  This bill also slashes funding for the vital research that would move us away from fossil fuels and build a clean energy economy.  The public will suffer as a result." 

For more detail on these riders, go to:

NRDC President Frances Beinecke’s blog:
Tea Party Republicans in the House Resume Assault on the Environment
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/fbeinecke/tea_party_leaders_in_house_res.html

NRDC Senior Attorney Jon Devine’s blog:
Rough Rider; A New Attack on Clean Water:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jdevine/