Clean Air Act Under Attack

The Clean Air Act has a 40-year track record of cutting dangerous pollution, protecting human health and the environment, and spurring innovation. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that global warming pollutants are covered under the Clean Air Act and ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assess whether these pollutants pose a threat to the health and welfare of Americans. In December 2009, EPA completed its analysis and found that climate pollution indeed poses such a threat (see U.S. EPA: Greenhouse Gases "Threaten the Public Health and Welfare of the American People," WWF blog, 7 Dec. 2010).

EPA is now taking further steps required by the Clean Air Act (CAA) to protect Americans from dangerous climate change. By enforcing CAA, EPA will ensure that American’s are protected from hazardous pollution and that big polluters will be required to install modern technology to reduce global warming pollution and use cleaner energy. EPA has proposed to tailor those rules to exempt small carbon emitters such as hotels and hospitals and apply them only to large sources that have long been subject to similar standards for other pollutants. 

In an attempt to stop the EPA from protecting Americans against dangerous climate change, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has introduced a resolution (“resolution of disapproval”—S.J. Res 26) that strips the Clean Air Act of the authority to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs), ultimately overturning the EPA’s scientific finding that climate change pollution is dangerous to people’s health and welfare. The resolution will likely be voted on this week (date set for 10 June 2010).

In a recent letter (24 May 2010) to Senate leadership, former EPA Administrator Russell E. Train (served under President Nixon & Ford) urged the Senate to reject efforts to weaken CAA.  "In particular, I ask the Senate to reject the Resolution of Disapproval offered by Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska (S.J.Res.26)," he wrote, saying that it "would fundamentally undermine the Clean Air Act, overturning science in favor of political considerations."

As described by Train, passage of this resolution would undercut the importance of science and human safety concerns in decision-making. Murkowski’s resolution lets big polluters off the hook for endangering the public and nullifies a vital national clean car standard agreement (issued by the President in May 2009) among auto companies, labor, states, environmentalist and the administration to cut vehicles’ carbon emissions by 30% (raising fuel efficiency to 34.1 miles per gallon by model year 2016).

How you can help: The Senate is set to debate and vote on a climate & energy bill in the final weeks of July or early August (2010). Call your Senators and ask them to vote YES on a climate & energy bill that limits fossil fuel pollution.

Online WWF Resources Regarding U.S. Climate & Energy Policy:

• U.S. Federal Policy section, WWF blog
• Act For Our Future
• What does the Spill have to do with a Climate Bill?

Online Resources:

More information on the EPA's final endangerment finding is available from EPA's Web site, including:

• Findings
• Technical Support Document
• Response to Comment Documents
• Press Release
• Press Kit
  • Legal Basis (PDF) (1 p., 117 KB, About PDF)
  • Health Effects (PDF) (1 p., 95 KB, About PDF)
  • Environmental and Welfare Effects (PDF) (1 p., 45 KB, About PDF)
  • Climate Change Facts (PDF) (1 p., 39 KB, About PDF)
  • Light Duty Vehicle Program (PDF) (1 p., 39 KB, About PDF)
  • Timeline (PDF) (1 p., 30 KB, About PDF)
• Frequently Asked Questions (PDF) (3 pp., 38 KB, About PDF)

 Postings from Joe Romm of Climate Progress:

•  Sen. Jeff Merkley argues against Lisa “Dirty Air” Murkowski’s radical attempt to overrule science. (21 Jan 2010)
• The Dirty Air Act.  (20 Jan 2010)

No Dirty Air Act.  Site sponsored by Clean Energy Works.

Murkowski Move an Assault on Science, Science Group Says.  Press release (21 January 2010) from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

WWF Climate Change Blog:

• Virginia Researchers and Planners Warn of Climate Change Impacts on Coastal Areas, As Attorney General Challenges the Science (23 Feb 2010)
• Alaska's Senator Murkowski Fiddles as Alaska Burns (25 May 2010)
• Former EPA Administrator Russell E. Train Urges Senate to Reject Efforts to Weaken Clean Air Act (25 May 2010)
• While Major Floods and a Rapidly Changing Climate Threaten North Dakota, Its Congressman Opposes Curbs on Emissions (25 Feb 2010)
• As Weather Extremes Hammer Arkansas Farms, Senator Lincoln Endorses Veto of Finding that Climate Change Threatens Farmers (27 Jan 2010)
• EPA sets timetable for regulating climate pollution (23 Feb 2010)
• U.S. EPA: Greenhouse Gases "Threaten the Public Health and Welfare of the American People" (7 Dec 2010)