House Committees Approving Two Major Anti-Environmental Bills

WASHINGTON (April 15, 2015) – Two House committees are expected to report out bills today that would significantly damage the environment. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure approved a bill that would block a proposed Clean Water Rule that would protect streams and wetlands—including many that feed drinking water supplies. The Judiciary Committee approved the REINS Act, a radical overhaul of the federal regulatory system that would make it virtually impossible to put in place any new measures to safeguard the public.

David Goldston, director of government affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council, issued this statement:

“It’s appalling that, on their 100th day running Congress, the Republican leadership continues to push a Big Polluter agenda that would weaken or dismantle health and safety protections for millions of Americans. They offer no positive proposals to protect clean water or other ways to safeguard the public, and with the REINS Act, they would make sure that no one else’s positive proposals could ever move forward. Bills like the REINS Act would have a breathtaking, and terrible, impact on the public, literally returning our country to the 19th Century when it was impossible to protect consumers and workers.”

For a blog by Goldston on the REINS Act, click here: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dgoldston/reins_act_testimony.html

For a new blog on the attack on the Clean Water Rule by NRDC senior attorney Jon Devine, click here: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jdevine/fresh_attack_fresh_water.html

For a blog on the REINS Act impacts by John Walke, director of NRDC’s clean air program, click here: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jwalke/frequently_asked_questions_abo.html