Tell your Representative to Vote Against This Bill.
During this week of July 25th, the House of Representatives will begin consideration of the FY12 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill (H.R. 2584) which funds many of our nation’s signature environmental laws.
This is the first of 12 bills that fund the US federal government, all of which must be passed by October 1.
HR 2584 is the Mother of All Anti-Environmental Bills, says the Environmental Defense Action Fund because it contains nearly 40 anti-environmental policy riders.
"Instead of moving stand-alone legislation or openly debating the merits of gutting America’s environmental protections, the House is trying to sneak more than 40 anti-environment amendments and policy riders to the Interior Appropriations bill," says Environmental Defense.
"And that’s even before it comes to the floor, where many members of Congress have already announced plans to amend the bill and make it even worse."
Here are some examples:
- Prohibit the federal government and states from increasing vehicle fuel efficiency to reduce U.S. oil dependence, prevent climate change, and lower fuel costs
- Block EPA from regulating water pollution, affecting the drinking water of 117 million people
- Prevent EPA from regulating air pollution: mercury, smog, soot and other pollutants from power and cement plants, allowing our dirtiest plants to emit unlimited pollution.
- Cease protection for endangered species. No new species could be listed as endangered and no federal agencies would be prohibited from protecting critical habitats (they already de-listed Wolves in the last go-round, which now faces open-shooting and trapping).
- Open up lands immediately next to the Grand Canyon to uranium mining, despoiling one of our most iconic landscapes and potentially contaminating its waters with radioactivity.
"These aggressive provisions are an unprecedented and blatant attempt to undermine bedrock environmental laws that Americans have depended on for nearly 40 years to protect their health, air, water and public lands. They also undermine the development and deployment of energy efficiency and clean energy technologies and forbid various agencies from proceeding with current work related to climate change," says Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), a national group of about 850 business leaders who promote strong environmental policy to grow the economy.
The House of Representatives Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC) blasted the Republican agenda, for attempting to use a federal funding bill to overturn our country’s most important environmental laws.
It makes unprecedented, extremely deep cuts to funding for federal agencies that protect America’s air, water, lands, and wildlife, and contains an unprecedented number of policy riders (40) that would cripple existing laws like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act.
Such riders do not directly address federal spending and are typically forbidden from inclusion in appropriations legislation.
SEEC leaders – co-chairs Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Steve Israel (D-NY), and vice chairs Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Jared Polis (D-CO), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), and Chellie Pingree (D-ME) – released the following joint statement on behalf of the 48-member coalition:
"Both parties and houses of Congress should be focused on preventing a default crisis, and on creating jobs in a competitive 21st century economy. But instead, this week the House will consider H.R. 2584 – an unprecedented back-door attempt to roll back essential pollution controls and public health protections in favor of bigger profits for the country’s worst polluters. This is a low mark for the 112th Congress that has already seen the GOP majority preserve giveaways to Big Oil and advance legislation to overturn common sense energy efficiency standards, slash clean energy innovation, and carve loopholes in important environmental statutes.
"H.R. 2584 would overturn 40 years of bipartisan progress protecting the clean air and water on which all Americans depend, and the lands and wildlife that Americans treasure. The American people reject the false choice between a prosperous economy and a sustainable environment, which we’ve proven can go hand in hand. SEEC calls on the Congress to reject this bill."
Earlier this year SEEC defended against similar radical anti-environmental policy riders the GOP tried to include as part of negotiations to prevent a government shutdown.
"This environmental spending bill is one of the worst assaults on birds and other wildlife ever to come before Congress," says Darin Schroeder of the American Bird Conservancy, the leading bird conservation organization in the US.
It eliminates the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, which provides funding for migratory birds across the Americas, deeply cuts core programs that prevent wildlife from becoming endangered, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, among many others.
"These programs are crucial to maintaining healthy and abundant bird populations throughout the US, and have proven track records of success," Schroeder laments.
For example, The North American Wetlands Conservation Act has leveraged over $2 billion in matching funds affecting 20 million acres through the work of over 4,000 partners and has fostered public and private sector cooperation for migratory bird conservation, flood control, erosion control, and water quality. Every dollar of money invested in the program has been matched by an average of 3.2 dollars from non-federal entities.
While Republicans may think they’re just reducing "unnecessary spending," they are also directly cutting jobs and adding to the country’s unemployment rolls.
The cut in federal employment is an obvious byproduct of eliminating funding, but what about tourism? The Outdoor Industry Foundation estimates that bird watching and other wildlife viewing contributes $43 billion a year to the US economy. An estimated 66 million Americans participate in wildlife viewing, which supports nearly half a million jobs and generates $2.7 billion annually state and federal tax receipts.
Here’s an excerpt from a letter Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) sent to the House:
Strong federal resource management, protection and performance standards are fundamental to the success of American businesses and a thriving economy, and the clean energy technology sector offers the single most promising platform for reviving our struggling manufacturing base, creating new jobs and providing a robust opportunity for export expansion.
However, the U.S. is swiftly losing our competitive advantage with countries such as China and Germany which are embracing the opportunities provided by improved energy efficiency and fast growing clean energy industries. Though we should rightfully be leading in this trillion dollar global market since many of these technologies were developed here with U.S. research dollars, this bill ensures that we will fall further behind.
Tell your Representative to Vote Against This Bill.
Here’s a list of all the Riders:
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