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WASHINGTON, D.C. -
Greens, other environmental activists oppose the assault on New Source
Review requirements for old power plants, and urge EPA chief Whitman to
stand up to the polluter lobby inside the Bush Administration.
BETH A. McCONNELL, Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group
(nonpartisan organization): "President Bush's Energy Department is
poised to eliminate a requirement of the Clean Air Act that old power
plants install modern air pollution equipment when they upgrade, thereby
severely weakening efforts to reduce air pollution. More than 30,000
Americans lives are cut short each year due to power plant pollution.
Now is the time that we should be coming down hard on air polluters, not
relaxing clean air standards. The plan will jeopardize the health of
every American, and will undo decades of clean air progress."
J. ROY CANNON, Green Party of Delaware: "We urge EPA Administrator
Christine Todd Whitman to uphold her obligation to protect the American
public from the hazards of pollution, and to continue to stand up to the
Energy Department's plan. Last year, Ms. Whitman compromised on both the
Kyoto global warming treaty and the regulation to limit arsenic in
drinking water, which was later reversed after a storm of public
protest. But Ms. Whitman, as governor of New Jersey, supported strict
enforcement of the New Source Review program to make plants restrict
emissions, and we urge her to stand firm against this latest attempt to
satisfy the polluter lobby inside the Bush Administration."
ANNIE GOEKE, Pennsylvania Green and co-chair of the national party's
International Committee: "The Bush Administration's Energy
Department, caving in to the oil and gas, coal, and chemical
manufacturer lobbies, wants to gut the 'New Source Review.' This is the
provision that requires hundreds of dirty old power plants, coal plants,
which were grandfathered out of the 1970 Clean Air Act's "Best
Available Control Technology" requirement to reduce air pollution,
to use the most up-to-date and effective air pollution controls when
upgrading their facilities. Marc Racicot, chair of the Republican Party,
has lobbied the White House for years to weaken the Clean Air Act, and
he continues to be associated with a law firm that is leading the
assault against clean air. Since Bush and Cheney are former oil industry
executives, it might not take much persuasion."
CAROL MILLER, New Mexico Green and public health leader: "The
Energy Department proposal will allow plants to pump sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxide emissions in the air for decades to come. Sulfur dioxide
causes acid rain and nitrogen oxide causes urban smog. The proposal will
cause a whole range of serious health problems including asthma, lung
cancer and heart disease, especially in cities where children already
suffer record asthma rates. We call on every single member of Congress
to pass federal legislation to oppose it, and we urge Americans to
contact their Representatives and Senators immediately and demand that
they take action to block this dangerous move."
TOM SEVIGNY, Connecticut Green, member of the national Steering
Committee of the Green Party of the United States: "The ghost of
Enron lives on in these defective Bush air policies. Bush should know by
now that market-based systems, like his proposed 'cap and trade'
emission trading program, have not worked and will not work to clean up
our air. It's just another shell game to allow corporate wheeler dealers
to create a new market for speculative trading, and even if it were
approved, it might not go into effect for years while old power plants
would be allowed to avoid installing modern pollution equipment when
they upgrade. It's more corporate welfare at the expense of the
environment, with corporate polluters showered with billions in new
credits while we get acid rain and asthma. That's what Enron lobbied for
behind closed doors."
Contacts:
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576, nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com
More Information:
The Green Party of the United States
http://gpus.org & http://www.gp.org
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