BREATHING A LITTLE MORE DEEPLY

Let me not, while recounting tribulations, and pointing out trials both past and potential, forget to announce victory, to celebrate gratitude when the good things do happen.  And this past week, on Wednesday, one did happen.  The "Clear Skies" act was defeated in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.  Nine senators helped kill this bill (for the time being anyway, to inject a note of cynicism) -please let them know that you approve their actions and thank them for a courageous stand against the administration's pro-industry anti-citizens' health policies.  The nine senators are: Jim Jeffords (I-VT), Max Baucus (D-MT), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Barack Obama (D-IL).  To make life simpler, here is a link where you can simply fill in a few blanks to send a free fax to your senator, expressing your gratitude for his or her action.  Please do take a moment right now to do this.  And I thank you, too.

The following snippet from NRDC elaborates on this defeat a little further: 

BILL WEAKENING CLEAN AIR ACT DIES IN SENATE COMMITTEE
Tri-Partisan Group of Senators Nix Corporate Polluter Plan

Statement by John Walke, NRDC Senior Attorney

WASHINGTON (March 9, 2005) -- In a 9-9 vote, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today rejected a bill (S. 131) that would have weakened Clean Air Act public health safeguards and postponed deadlines for industrial polluters to significantly reduce their toxic emissions. Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.I.) and Sen. James Jeffords (Vt.), an independent, joined the committee's seven Democrats in voting against the bill.

Below is a statement by John Walke, clean air project director, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

"Today senators on both sides of the aisle stood up for the American people against a corporate scheme to weaken federal law and delay the day we all can enjoy breathing clean air.

"If the Senate wants to pass an air pollution bill, that bill would have to clean the air faster than the current Clean Air Act. The bill that died today, which was crafted by industrial polluters, failed that basic test. What's more, it would have worsened global warming by locking the electric power industry into investments that exacerbate, rather than control, global warming pollution."

As a matter of fact, there were two victories for cleaner air within the past week.  The EPA passed the Clean Air Interstate Rule (known as CAIR), a plan to cut down smog and power plant produced air pollution.  From Environmental Defense:

Victory! Biggest Smog and Soot Power Plant Pollution Cuts in a Decade

In a major victory for clean air and the health of you and your family, the U.S. EPA signed into action yesterday the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). This is the biggest cut in unhealthy smog- and soot-forming pollution from power plants in a decade, bringing relief to children, the elderly, asthma suffers and others who are especially sensitive to air pollution. Environmental Defense applauds EPA's CAIR program and thanks the over 40,000 members and activists who have written to Congress supporting it.

With over 160 million Americans living in areas with unhealthy air, this is a big win for clean air and public health. Power plants pollute air locally, but their tall smokestacks also send soot and chemicals far into the sky, where wind carries them hundreds of miles. Emissions from Ohio, for example, degrade the air quality in New York and New England.

More on CAIR's Clean Air Victory
CAIR will result in dramatic power plant air pollution reductions. The rule will:

- Cut millions of tons of smog- and particulate-forming pollution from power plants across the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast, reducing SO2 pollution by about 70% and NOx pollution by 65% by 2015.

- Prevent an estimated 13,000 deaths, 240,000 asthma attacks, and 1.7 million lost work and school days annually.

- Produce $82 billion in benefits with only $3.7 billion in costs, meaning benefits outweigh cost 20 to 1.

- Achieve cost-effective pollution cuts by capping emissions and trading credits through a market-based approached.