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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Liz Judge, Earthjustice, (202) 667-4500, ext. 237

Sen. John Barrasso Leads Senate Attack on Clean Air

Cronies of corporate polluters in Senate introduce Dirty Air Act to pardon polluter friends from controls

WASHINGTON

Today, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and seven co-sponsors in the Senate
introduced legislation that would block the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's ability to limit the carbon dioxide pollution of the
nation's biggest polluters and squelch any reductions of the pollution
under the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water
Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.

The following statement is from Earthjustice legislative representative Stephanie Maddin:

"With the introduction of his legislation today, Sen. Barrasso has
now become the lead voice in the Senate for the nation's biggest
polluters, who continue to try to get out of cleaning up their
health-threatening air pollution. This piece of legislation is proof of
where Sen. Barrasso stands: On the side of polluters who threaten our
health, instead of the side of the American public, whose health he
should be protecting.

"What Sen. Barrasso and other cronies of big polluters in
Congress-including Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. James
Inhofe, Rep. Fred Upton, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, and others-are doing is
attempting to give major corporate polluters a free pass to continue
fouling the air at the cost of our health.

"We believe Americans know better than to support this kind of
desperate overreach on the behalf of corporate, polluter special
interests. Americans see the proof from 40 years of the Clean Air Act
that cleaning up our air has been good for our nation's bottom line and
good for our health. Americans also see that Sen. Barrasso and the other
elected officials who are behind these efforts to wipe away clean air
protections are the leading recipients of dirty energy money in
Congress.

"It's time for our elected representatives to stop using taxpayer
dollars to create more loopholes for the nation's worst polluters. While
we believe Sen. Barrasso's attempt is transparent and doomed to fail,
we hope to see our elected representatives standing up for our health
and for clean air protections that make our country stronger, more
secure, and more prosperous in the global economy."

Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.

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