U.S. House of Representatives to Vote on NAACP Opposed Bill
U.S. House of Representatives to Vote on NAACP Opposed Bill to Stop U.S. Government’s Efforts to Curb Greenhouse Gases
H.R. 910, THE MIS-NAMED “ENERGY TAX PREVENTION ACT OF 2011” TO BAN THE U.S. EPA FROM USING ITS AUTHORITY UNDER THE CLEAN AIR ACT, MAY COME UP AS EARLY AS TUESDAY, 4/5/2011
The Clean Air Act of 1970, as amended and strengthened in 1990, is a comprehensive federal response to air pollution. Under the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets limits on certain air pollutants, including setting limits on how much pollution can be in the air anywhere in the United States. These measures help ensure basic health and environmental protection from air pollutions for all Americans. The Clean Air Act also gives the EPA the authority to limit emissions of air pollutants coming from sources like chemical plants, utilities, and steel mills.
Under the authority granted to the EPA by the Clean Air Act, in the fall of 2009 the EPA announced that as of January, 2011, new or substantially renovated major stationary sources of air pollution – such as power plants or refineries – would be required to use the best technology available to reduce harmful emissions, including “greenhouse gases” which are responsible for climate change. It is estimated that if successful, these reductions will help slow global warming, improve Americans’ health and create new jobs. In fact, according to study released in 2010 by the Small Business Majority, between the years of 2010 and 2015, the capital investments in pollution controls required by the EPA to implement these new rules and new generation will create an estimated 1.46 million jobs, or almost 300,000 year-around jobs per year.
Efforts to slow or stop the effects of global warming are especially important to low-income as well racial and ethnic minority Americans disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change. Manifestations of climate change such as severe storms, floods, and climate variability have a disproportionate impact on African-Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities economically and socially, as well as our health and well-being. Hurricane Katrina, and its aftermath, is but one example of how the results of climate change can have a disparate and often tragic impact on communities of color.
In Congress, there are at least eight bills intended to roll back or limit the EPA’s ability to reduce greenhouse emissions. One bill, by Congressman Fred Upton (MI) (H.R. 910, the miss-named Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011) would prohibit the EPA from limiting greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. This legislation is expected to come to the House floor as early as Tuesday, April 5, 2011.
THE NAACP OPPOSES H.R. 910 WHICH WOULD ELIMINATE EPA’S POWER TO OVERSEE THE REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS.