GOP Leaves No Stone Unturned, Much More on Chopping Block

The GOP is going after everything in sight, leaving no stone unturned.

They’re working on state and federal levels throughout the country. Protests have broken out in Madison, WI because of their attempt to eliminate collective bargaining, the House voted today to cut all Federal funds for Planned Parenthood, and they’re working on doing the same for public broadcasting.

We reported on their plans to slash spending on efficiency and renewables, but that’s just the beginning. They want to stop protecting our environment completely.

An amendment by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) passed that eliminates the Green the Capitol Initiative’s measly $1.5 million annual budget. The initiative has installed efficient lighting, expanded recycling and instituted a compost program, saving $3.2 million over its four years.

Today, we learned the GOP added hundreds of pages of amendments to a spending bill that would eliminate environmental protections for air, water and wilderness.

Among them are amendments that would prevent the EPA from limiting hazardous pollutants at power plants, studying whether farm herbicide atrazine is a health hazard, and from tightening rules on toxic coal ash. Rep. John Carter (R-TX) would block the EPA from reducing toxic emissions of arsenic, cadmium, lead and other pollutants from cement plants.

Here’s just a sample of some of their amendments:

• Amendment #10 (Stearns-R-FL) -To stop EPA from developing or issuing standards that list coal ash as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
• Amendment #13 (Rooney-R-FL) -To stop EPA from using its funding to implement, administer or enforce new water quality standards for Florida’s lakes and flowing waters, which were issued in November.
• Amendment #109 (Griffith-R-VA) – To stop EPA from using its funding to implement or enforce new guidance for the review of possible water pollution from proposed coal-mining projects.
• Amendment #127 (Young-R-AK) – To stop EPA from regulating air pollution from Arctic offshore drilling.
• Amendment #149 (Leutkemeyer-R-MO) – To prohibit funding the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
• Amendment #152 (Jenkins-R-KS) – To prevent funding the cleanup of pesticides and PCBs from the Great Plains Industrial Park (formerly the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant).
• Amendment #165 (Carter-R-TX) – To stop EPA from using its funding to implement new air toxic pollution rules for cement kilns.
• Amendment #169 (Poe-R-TX) – To eliminate K-12 National Science Foundation science & technology education funding.
• Amendment #193 (Lummis-R-WY) – To eliminate funding for BLM, FWS, and USDA conservation land acquisition.
• Amendment #198 (Poe-R-TX)- To stop EPA from creating a cap-and-trade program or enforcing any other regulations for greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
• Amendment #202 (Labrador-R-ID) – To defund the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
• Amendment #206 (Jones-R-NC) – To impede NOAA from preventing illegal fisheries activities.
• Amendment #207 (Jones-R-NC) – To block penalties for illegal fisheries activities.
• Amendment #216 (McKinley-R-WV) To stop EPA from administering or enforcing the sections of the Clean Water Act that govern dredge-and-fill permits, i.e. mountaintop-removal.
• Amendment #217 (McKinley-R-WV) – To stop coal ash rules.
• Amendment #218 (Johnson-R-OH) – To stop EPA from issuing new rules for the circumstances under which mining may be conducted near streams or from conducting an environmental impact statement on the impact of the rules; e.g. mountaintop removal.
• Amendment #279 (Schock-R-IL) – To stop EPA from using its funding to re-evaluate the possible health effects of the approved herbicide atrazine.
• Amendment #289 (McClintock-R-CA) – To stop Interior from issuing grants under the WaterSMART program, a conservation initiative intended to find solutions for the water shortages in many areas of the West.
• Amendment #344 (Pearce-R-NM) – To prevent the support of citizen suits under the National Environmental Policy Act.
• Amendment #345 (Pearce-R-NM) – To prevent the support of citizen suits under the Endangered Species Act.
• Amendment #348 (Pearce-R-NM) – To stop Interior from putting funding toward climate change adaptation.

Call your House Rep right now at (202) 224-3121 and ask him/ her not to support these dangerous amendments.

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