Senator Kirk, Your Sewage Bill Doesn’t Cover Up Stinky Climate Vote

CHICAGO (July 10, 2015) – Senator Mark Kirk held a press conference today touting his environmental credentials in the face of withering criticism of his recent vote to block action to cut dangerous carbon emissions from America’s power plants. In recent weeks, numerous environmental and conservation organizations have aired public education advertisements to highlight that vote and its potentially negative impact on the health of Illinoisans as well as harmful to the Great Lakes.

Following is a statement from Henry Henderson, Midwest Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Earlier this week, NRDC began a high profile public education television ad campaign highlighting Senator Kirk’s vote to block climate action.

“Climate change is the biggest threat to the Great Lakes, making many of the issues they face worse and bringing a bevy of new problems. If you are not addressing climate change, you simply are not addressing the health of the Great Lakes. Senator Kirk continues to hide behind his sewage bill to avoid talking about his damaging climate vote.

“Further, his  ‘sewage effort’ was part of a suite of bills, which he also supported, that not only block climate action, but attempt to undercut the Clean Water Act and slash funding for the infrastructure cities need to deal with the sewage and other runoff problems. Taken as a whole, that bill was a huge blow to the Great Lakes. The Senator should not be trumpeting his commitment to the Great Lakes while actually voting to block and defunding real protections.  

“Senator Kirk had a choice between voting to protect Americans from the ravages of climate change or vote with the polluters. He voted with the polluters in last month’s appropriation vote. Yesterday the Senator voted to support climate action overseas. Today, he held a press conference to say he supports Great Lakes protection. So perhaps there is reason to hope that he will better represent the needs of Illinoisans, and the Great Lakes, moving forward."

More Information:

• Henderson detailed issues with Senator Kirk’s sewage bill and the array of things that undercut it in the broader appropriations bill on his blog at http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/hhenderson/senator_kirk_if_you_are_not_ad.html
• NRDC’s TV ad on Senator Kirk’s vote can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMDIkLmYwD0&feature=youtu.be
• Further info on the ad campaign which continues to air on Chicagoland TV stations through the 17th at  http://www.nrdc.org/media/2015/150707a.asp