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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest Releases
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| SEPTEMBER
29, 1998 4:43PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Ozone Action Kymberly Escobar (202) 265-6738 kescobar@ozone.org |
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| Administration Takes A Dive On Anti-Environmental Rider; Loosened Timetable on Methyl Bromide Will Harm Ozone Layer | ||||
| WASHINGTON
- September 29 - The Clinton Administration today signaled support for a congressional
rider that would gut the Clean Air Act provisions meant to protect the ozone layer. This
rider, to the agriculture appropriations bill, H.R. 4101, offered by Representative Vic
Fazio (D-CA), rolls back the Clean Air Act's 2001 ban on the use of methyl bromide to
2005, the phase out date set by the Montreal Protocol. White House support for this rider comes just hours after Vice President Gore made a public statement attacking Congressional Republicans calling on them to end their "backdoor assaults and send the President clean bills, free of anti-environmental riders." But the Vice President has been conspicuously silent on riders from members from his own party. "The Administration has pulled the plug on the methyl bromide ban which will give us four additional years of exposure to this toxic, ozone depleting substance" said Brandon MacGillis, Director of Campaigns for Ozone Action. The Fazio rider weakens the US leadership internationally. Earlier this year, the European Union moved up its methyl bromide phase out date to match the 2001 commitment that the U.S. made under the Clean Air Act. In addition, developing countries have indicated a willingness to speed up their phase out dates, due in large part to previous commitments of the U.S. and the European Union. "Vice President Gore's lack of leadership and timing could not be worse," said MacGillis "At a time when the rest of the world is moving to phase this chemical out, he is caving in to the pesticide industries who produce methyl bromide." Methyl bromide has long been known as a powerful depleter of the earth's ozone layer, destroying ozone 50 times more aggressively than chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) pound for pound. Depletion of the ozone layer with a corresponding increased in UV-B radiation has been linked to increased cases of skin cancer. ### |
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