That is the question that many Americans will see opening their newspapers tomorrow as a nationwide advertising effort begins to let Americans know that the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) has a provision restricting the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce the Clean Air Act (CAA). The CAA is perhaps the premier legislative achievement to turn around environmental damage that, quite literally, affect every single American with every breath we take.
The ad reads:
The energy bill that passed the House guts a key provision of the
Clean Air Act, letting oil refineries and coal plants off the hook for their global warming pollution.
Coal plants are our nation’s oldest and dirtiest polluters.
Thanks to industry lobbying, the bill will provide a lifeline for coal.
More coal means fewer jobs in wind and solar industries, more pollution, and a worsening climate crisis.
MoveOn is calling on the Senate to change this, to maintain the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce, if necessary, Clean Air Act provisions related to reducing how excessive CO2 emissions endanger Americans and the environment (not just through Global Warming impacts but also, for example, through acidification of the oceans).