Major polluters are one step closer to turning off critical pollution controls forever, thanks to a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that the Senate greenlit yesterday.
If the resolution clears the House too, it will invalidate an EPA rule that requires significant emissions sources like refineries, chemical plants, and pesticide manufacturers to follow strict pollution control standards for the seven most toxic chemicals known to humankind. This includes mercury, dioxins, and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs—pollutants that are toxic in just fractions of a gram.
Tell the House: Don’t Allow Toxic Polluters to Turn Off Pollution Controls
In a statement released before the Senate vote, Moms’ Director of Federal Policy Melody Reis says: “Republicans in Congress have introduced legislation that would roll back Clean Air Act protections for the first time in history… If enacted, this legislation would return us to a time before the Clean Air Act existed when industrial polluters could release limitless amounts of carcinogens without accountability. This is cynical, dangerous, and deeply irresponsible. We need Congress to protect our children, not to make them sick.”
People living in industrial hubs would suffer most under this rollback. Candi Hurst, our West Virginia Field Organizer, lives in one of these pollution hotspots. Candi says: “West Virginia is home to some of the worst polluting petrochemical facilities in the country. Many of these facilities emit large amounts of toxic chemicals into our air, endangering the health of children and families. It is outrageous that some in Congress are considering allowing the most toxic polluters to permanently shut off their air pollution controls.”
Candi points to the notorious Union Carbide facility in Institute, West Virginia, as an example of a facility that could “blanket communities with unlimited amounts of the world’s most potent cancer-causing pollutants” if the House approves this resolution.
As Melody told CBS News after the resolution passed the Senate: “This will put our children, and all of us, at grave risk. It is a shameful, and completely unnecessary move.”
Tell the House: Don’t Allow Toxic Polluters to Turn Off Pollution Controls