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For Immediate Release
January, 27 2011, 12:57pm EDT
Contact:
Suzanne Struglinski, NRDC, 202-289-2387, sstruglinski@nrdc.org;
123 US Lawmakers Support Polluters Over Health of Children
Attacks on Clean Air Act Updates Would Increase Air Pollution and Health Risks -Including Asthma - for Millions of American Children, Adults
WASHINGTON
More than 24 million Americans with asthma, including over 7 million
children, are at increased risk of adverse health consequences if 123
U.S. House members in 35 states are successful in preventing the US EPA
from updating the Clean Air Act, according to data compiled by the
Natural Resources Defense Council and released with Health Care Without
Harm. The lawmakers collectively have received over $27,292,000 from
polluters, many of which have made stopping the EPA a high priority.
As of January 25, 123 U.S. House Members had cosponsored one
or more pieces of legislation intended to prevent the Environmental
Protection Agency from reducing pollution from industrial plants and
other sources. By blocking the EPA, the lawmakers would be allowing
polluters to continue emitting unsafe amounts of cancer-causing toxic,
soot and smog pollution from cement plants as well as unlimited amounts
of carbon dioxide from most industrial plants.
The 123 Members of Congress co-sponsoring anti-EPA bills are
in the following 35 states: Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona,
California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana,
Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana,
North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia,
Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming.
"Putting the EPA in a political stranglehold will sentence
tens of thousands of people to debilitating, respiratory illnesses such
as asthma, adding to the burden of chronic disease in the nation and
increasing the financial burden to the health care system," said Health
Care Without Harm's Climate Policy Coordinator Brenda Afzal, MS, RN.
"Let's be clear: If these lawmakers are successful in blocking the EPA
from doing its job to cut life-threatening pollution, more asthma
sufferers, particularly children, will wind up gasping for breath."
Health Care Without Harm, one of nearly 300 national and
local health groups and other organizations, recently called on Congress
to fully support the EPA's efforts to limit the pollution responsible
for climate change, which increases a wide range of health risks,
including exacerbated chronic health conditions such as asthma and
respiratory diseases associated with smog pollution. Pollution from
cement kilns includes cancer-causing toxic pollution, mercury, soot and
smog-forming pollution.
"Our elected representatives should hold big polluters
accountable, not help them block the strong safeguards that would
protect our health and quality of life," said Dan Lashof, an
environmental scientist and Director of NRDC's Climate
Center. "Unfortunately, these bad air boosters- who collectively have
taken over $27 million in campaign contributions from big polluters
during their careers - are choosing to stand up for the polluters
instead of public health. We think the scientists and experts at the EPA
should decide what pollution limits are needed, not politicians whose
careers have been supported by big polluters."
"Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the most effective
strategy for limiting these health effects," stated Jeremy Hess, MD,
MPH, FACEP, Assistant Professor and Assistant Research Director,
Emergency Medicine; and Assistant Professor, Environmental Health, Emory
Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Atlanta, GA. " Moreover,
several studies have demonstrated that many mitigation strategies can
have significant health benefits apart from the reduction in greenhouse
gas emissions, making them a win-win from a health perspective."
The groups highlighted several recently introduced bills that
would abolish or otherwise block the EPA's ability to set standards to
protect public health from air pollution:
- Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced a bill (H.R. 97) that would permanently block EPA from limiting carbon pollution.
- Rep. Shelley Moore
Capito, R-W. Va., introduced a bill (H.R. 199) that would block EPA from
taking any action under the Clean Air Act tolimit carbon and methane
pollution, for two years.
- Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas,
introduced a bill (H.R. 153) that would prohibit EPA from developing or
enforcing standards to limit carbon pollution.
- Rep. John Carter,
R-Texas, has a introduced a resolution (H.J. RES. 9) that would
permanently block the EPA from reducing the soot, mercury,
cancer-causing toxic and smog-forming pollution that cement plants dump
into the air
Carbon pollution is linked to asthma because it contributes
to warmer temperatures, which make it easier for smog pollution to
develop and harder to reduce it. Warmer temperatures are also associated
with increased morbidity and mortality due to increased weather events,
such as hurricanes and floods; the spread of disease-bearing vectors;
and heat-related illnesses, all of which incur additional health care
costs.
For a detailed chart of all U.S. House sponsors and co-sponsors of the anti-EPA legislation, go to https://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/paltman/FINAL%20Bad%20Air%20Bill%20Table.pdf on the Web.
In 2009, EPA scientists determined carbon pollution is a
public health risk, including its role in worsening the smog pollution
to which asthmatics are particularly vulnerable. Regarding the effects
on air quality, agency experts say "The evidence concerning adverse air
quality impacts provides strong and clear support for an endangerment
finding. Increases in ambient ozone are expected to occur over
broad areas of the country, and they are expected to increase serious
adverse health effects in large population areas that are and may
continue to be in nonattainment. The evaluation of the potential risks
associated with increases in ozone in attainment areas also supports
such a finding." For the EPA's full explanation, see https://www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment/downloads/Federal_Register-EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0171-Dec.15-09.pdf.
Asthma prevalence estimates are from the American Lung Association's "Estimated Prevalence and Incidence of Lung Disease by Lung Association Territory" which can be found at https://www.lungusa.org/finding-cures/our-research/trend-reports/estimated-prevalence.pdf.
Estimates are by county, so figures for specific districts include
counties wholly and partly in the district. Campaign contributions
information is from Open Secrets (https://www.OpenSecrets.org) and Federal Election Commission (https://www.fec.gov/disclosure.shtml) reports of contributions from oil and gas, electric utility, and coal and mining sectors. Top donors in these categories oppose key EPA safeguards.
For more information:
NRDC's Climate Center Campaign Director Pete Altman has blogged: https://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/paltman/choosing_polluters_over_childr.html
Table listing Bad Air Bill co-sponsors and district-specific information: https://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/paltman/FINAL%20Bad%20Air%20Bill%20Table.pdf
NRDC works to safeguard the earth--its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.
(212) 727-2700LATEST NEWS
Amnesty Blasts Israeli Death Penalty Bill as 'Institutionalized Discrimination Against Palestinians'
A leader at the human rights group called the proposal "a dangerous and dramatic step backwards and a product of ongoing impunity for Israel’s system of apartheid and its genocide in Gaza."
Nov 11, 2025
As Israel continues its "silent genocide" in the Gaza Strip one month into a supposed ceasefire with Hamas and Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank hit a record high, Amnesty International on Tuesday ripped the advancement of a death penalty bill championed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Israel's 120-member Knesset "on Monday evening voted 39-16 in favor of the first reading of a controversial government-backed bill sponsored by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech," the Times of Israel reported. "Two other death penalty bills, sponsored by Likud MK Nissim Vaturi and Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer, also passed their first readings 36-15 and 37-14."
Son Har-Melech's bill—which must pass two more readings to become law—would require courts to impose the death penalty on "a person who caused the death of an Israeli citizen deliberately or through indifference, from a motive of racism or hostility against a population, and with the aim of harming the state of Israel and the national revival of the Jewish people in its land."
Both Hamas—which Israel considers a terrorist organization—and the Palestine Liberation Organization slammed the bill, with Palestinian National Council Speaker Rawhi Fattouh calling it "a political, legal, and humanitarian crime," according to Reuters.
Amnesty International's senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas, said in a statement that "there is no sugarcoating this; a majority of 39 Israeli Knesset members approved in a first reading a bill that effectively mandates courts to impose the death penalty exclusively against Palestinians."
Amnesty opposes the death penalty under all circumstances and tracks such killings annually. The international human rights group has also forcefully spoken out against Israeli abuse of Palestinians, including the genocide in Gaza that has killed over 69,182 people as of Tuesday—the official tally from local health officials that experts warn is likely a significant undercount.
"The international community must exert maximum pressure on the Israeli government to immediately scrap this bill and dismantle all laws and practices that contribute to the system of apartheid against Palestinians."
“Knesset members should be working to abolish the death penalty, not broadening its application," Guevara Rosas argued. "The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment, and an irreversible denial of the right to life. It should not be imposed in any circumstances, let alone weaponized as a blatantly discriminatory tool of state-sanctioned killing, domination, and oppression. Its mandatory imposition and retroactive application would violate clear prohibitions set out under international human rights law and standards on the use of this punishment."
"The shift towards requiring courts to impose the death penalty against Palestinians is a dangerous and dramatic step backwards and a product of ongoing impunity for Israel's system of apartheid and its genocide in Gaza," she continued. "It did not occur in a vacuum. It comes in the context of a drastic increase in the number of unlawful killings of Palestinians, including acts that amount to extrajudicial executions, over the last decade, and a horrific rise of deaths in custody of Palestinians since October 2023."
Guevara Rosas noted that "not only have such acts been greeted with near-total impunity but with legitimacy and support and, at times, glorification. It also comes amidst a climate of incitement to violence against Palestinians as evidenced by the surge in state-backed settler attacks in the occupied West Bank."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the devastating assault on Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Since then, Israeli soldiers and settlers have also killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Netanyahu is now wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and Israel faces an ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice. The ICJ separately said last year that Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful and must end; the Israeli government has shown no sign of accepting that.
The Amnesty campaigner said Tuesday that "it is additionally concerning that the law authorizes military courts to impose death sentences on civilians, that cannot be commuted, particularly given the unfair nature of the trials held by these courts, which have a conviction rate of over 99% for Palestinian defendants."
As CNN reported Monday:
The UN has previously condemned Israel's military courts in the occupied West Bank, saying that "Palestinians' right to due process guarantees have been violated" for decades, and denounced "the lack of fair trial in the occupied West Bank."
UN experts said last year that, "in the occupied West Bank, the functions of police, investigator, prosecutor, and judge are vested in the same hierarchical institution—the Israeli military."
Pointing to the hanging of Nazi official and Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann, Guevara Rosas highlighted that "on paper, Israeli law has traditionally restricted the use of the death penalty for exceptional crimes, like genocide and crimes against humanity, and the last court-ordered execution was carried out in 1962."
"The bill's stipulation that courts should impose the death penalty on individuals convicted of nationally motivated murder with the intent of 'harming the state of Israel or the rebirth of the Jewish people' is yet another blatant manifestation of Israel's institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians, a key pillar of Israel’s apartheid system, in law and in practice," she asserted.
"The international community must exert maximum pressure on the Israeli government to immediately scrap this bill and dismantle all laws and practices that contribute to the system of apartheid against Palestinians," she added. "Israeli authorities must ensure Palestinian prisoners and detainees are treated in line with international law, including the prohibition against torture and other ill-treatment, and are provided with fair trial guarantees. They must also take concrete steps towards abolishing the death penalty for all crimes and all people."
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Kansas Editor Hopes $3 Million Payout for Police Raids Stops Future Attacks on Press
"In our democracy, the press is a watchdog against abuse," said Marion County Record publisher Eric Meyer. "If the watchdog itself is the target of abuse, and all it does is roll over, democracy suffers.”
Nov 11, 2025
A Kansas county has agreed to pay $3 million over 2023 police raids of a local newspaper and multiple homes—one of which belonged to its elderly publisher, whose death shortly followed—sparking nationwide alarm over increasing attacks on the free press.
Marion County agreed to pay the seven-figure settlement and issue a formal apology to the publishers of the Marion County Record admitting that wrongdoing had occurred during the August 11, 2023 raids on the paper's newsroom and two homes.
The apology states that the Marion County Sheriff's Office "wishes to express its sincere regrets to Eric and Joan Meyer and Ruth and Ronald Herbel for its participation in the drafting and execution of the Marion Police Department’s search warrants on their homes and the Marion County Record. This likely would not have happened if established law had been reviewed and applied prior to the execution of the warrant."
Bernie Rhodes, an attorney for the Record, told the paper, "This is a first step—but a big step—in making sure that Joan Meyer’s death served a purpose, in making sure that the next crazed cop who thinks they can raid a newsroom understands the consequences are measured in millions of dollars."
Rhodes was referring to the 98-year-old Record co-owner, who was reportedly in good health for her age, but collapsed and died at her home in the immediate aftermath of the raid by Marion police and country sheriff's deputies.
"This is a first step—but a big step—in making sure that Joan Meyer’s death served a purpose."
Eric Meyer, Joan Meyer's son and the current publisher of the Record, said: “The admission of wrongdoing is the most important part. In our democracy, the press is a watchdog against abuse. If the watchdog itself is the target of abuse, and all it does is roll over, democracy suffers.”
According to the Record, awards include:
- $200,000 to Eric Meyer, whose home was raided and two computers and a cellphone seized;
- $250,000 to reporter Deb Gruver, whose cell phone was seized;
- $300,000 to the Record;
- $600,000 to reporter Phyllis Zorn, whose cell phone was seized;
- $650,000 to former vice mayor Ruth Herbel, whose computer and cell phone were seized, and her husband, Ron, whose dementia was aggravated by the raid on their home; and
- $1 million to the estate of Joan Meyer.
Record business manager Cheri Bentz—who suffered aggravation of health conditions following one of the raids—previously settled with the county for $50,000.
Katherine Jacobsen, the US, Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, hailed the settlement as "an important win for press freedom amid a growing trend of hostility toward those who hold power to account."
"Journalists must be able to work freely and without fear of having their homes raided and equipment seized due to the overreach of authorities," she added.
The raids—during which police seized the Record‘s electronic equipment, work product, and documentary materials—were conducted with search warrants related to an alleged identity theft investigation.
However, critics—who have called the warrants falsified and invalid—noted that the raids came as the Record investigated sexual misconduct allegations against then-Marion Police Chief Police Gideon Cody. The raids, they say, were motivated by Cody's desire to silence the paper's unfavorable reporting about him.
State District Judge Ryan Rosauer ruled last month that Cody likely committed a felony crime when he instructed a witness with whom he allegedly had an improper romantic relationship to delete text messages they exchanged before, during, and after the raids.
While Cody will not be tried in connection with Meyer's death or the 2023 raids, Rosauer ordered him to stand trial over the deleted texts.
Meyer at the time expressed dismay that Cody wasn't being tried for his mother's death or the raids. He also worried that Cody was being made a scapegoat, as other people and law enforcement agencies were involved in the incident.
Following the announcement of the settlement, Meyer said that "this never has been about money, the key issue always has been that no one is above the law."
"No one can trample on the First and Fourth Amendments for personal or political purposes and get away with it," he continued. "When my mother warned officers that the stress they were putting her under might lead to her death, she called what they were doing Hitler tactics."
"What keeps our democracy from descending as Germany did before World War II is the courage she demonstrated—and we’ve tried to continue—in fighting back," Meyer added.
"This never has been about money, the key issue always has been that no one is above the law."
Five consolidated federal civil rights lawsuits have been filed in the US District Court for the District of Kansas, alleging wrongful death, unlawful searches, retaliation for protected speech, and other claims tied to the raids.
“It’s a shame additional criminal charges aren’t possible,” Meyer said, “but the federal civil cases will do everything they can to discourage future abuses of power.”
Although unable to savor the Record's victory, Joan Meyer presciently told the officers raiding her home, "Boy, are you going to be in trouble."
“She was so right," said Rhodes.
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GOP NYC Councilwoman Openly Dares Mamdani to Arrest Netanyahu With New Year's Invite
Despite Mamdani's campaign pledge, legal experts have consistently cast doubt on a New York City mayor's authority to order the arrest of a foreign leader.
Nov 11, 2025
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani may have a chance to fulfill one of his campaign promises on his first day of office, although legal experts have repeatedly cast doubt on his power to make it happen.
Republican New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov on Tuesday sent a formal invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak in New York City on January 1, 2026, while at the same time daring Mamdani to keep his pledge to have him arrested on war crimes charges.
"On January 1, Mamdani will take office," Vernikov wrote in a post on X. "And also on January 1, I look forward to welcoming Bibi to New York City. NY will always stand with Israel, and no radical Marxists with a title can change that."
The International Criminal Court (ICC) last year issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Israel's war in Gaza that has killed at least 69,000 Palestinians.
During his successful mayoral campaign, Mamdani repeatedly said that he would enforce the warrant against Netanyahu should the Israeli leader set foot in his city.
Although Mamdani backed off some of his most strident past statements during the campaign, particularly when it comes to the New York Police Department (NYPD), he doubled down on arresting Netanyahu during a September interview with The New York Times.
"This is a moment where we cannot look to the federal government for leadership," Mamdani told the paper. "This is a moment when cities and states will have to demonstrate what it actually looks like to stand up for our own values, our own people."
However, legal experts who spoke with the Times cast doubt on Mamdani's authority as the mayor of a major American city to arrest a foreign head of government, even if the person in question has been indicted by the ICC.
Among other things, experts said that the NYPD does not have jurisdiction to arrest Netanyahu on international war crimes charges, and the Israeli leader would have to commit some crime in violation of local state or city laws to justify such an action.
Additionally, the US has never been party to the ICC and does not recognize its legal authority.
Matthew Waxman, a professor at Columbia Law School, told the Times that Mamdani's stated determination to arrest Netanyahu was "more a political stunt than a serious law-enforcement policy."
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