House Committee Approves Misleading Oil and Air Bills

The House Energy and Commerce Committee today approved two bills claiming to provide relief from high gas prices but ignore real solutions and instead just hurt our health and the environment.

The following is a statement from Natural Resources Defense Council Legislative Director Scott Slesinger on the “Gasoline Regulations Act of 2012,” and “Strategic Energy Production Act”:

“These bills use today’s gas prices as an excuse to push the House Republicans’ long-time, radical agenda: to undo basic protections for clean air and prevent serious reviews of oil drilling decisions.

“This legislation does nothing to bring down gas prices but instead puts the needs of Big Oil and other industry supporters ahead of the health and safety of Americans and our environment.”

“If lawmakers really want to help Americans struggling with high gas prices, they’d find ways to help reduce our dependence on oil and give Americans more freedom of choice in transportation.”

For more details, please see NRDC Clean Air Director John Walke’s blog here: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jwalke/there_they_go_again_house_repu.html