landusepbb
11-18-2003, 12:30 PM
For Immediate Release:
November, 17, 2003
Contact:
David Willett, 202-675-6698
Statement of Carl Pope, Executive Director, Sierra Club
On the Energy Bill
Today, the Energy conference will consider a bill that constitutes one of the worst environmental disasters in years. Congress needs to reject this destructive bill to protect our communities and the environment.
Hatched three years ago in the backroom meetings of the Bush/Cheney Energy Task Force, this energy bill has been an act of secrecy from start to finish. Now this undemocratic process is in its final stretch. Today, the energy bill conference committee is poised to vote on a 1,148 page bill that was just released publicly for the first time on Saturday. Just as the public was excluded during the Cheney Task Force, the public is being shut out today.
Make no mistake; this bill will benefit the worst polluting industries in America. Instead of taking responsible steps forward, this bill would take us backwards and put our communities at risk. The majority of Americans don't want this bill. They don't want to breathe dirtier air, they don't want to drink polluted water, and they don't want their precious natural heritage sold out to the oil and gas industry.
This bill hands over our public lands to big oil companies, making oil and gas drilling the dominant use of our pubic lands. The bill will turn back the clock on clean air gains that we've made in recent decades, weakening the Clean Air Act and making it easier for polluters to dirty our air for longer. The bill will take the teeth out of our clean water laws where it comes to oil companies, exempting oil and gas activities from the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts. It even lets MTBE (a gasoline additive found to pollute drinking water) manufacturers off the hook for cleaning up their own mess - saddling local communities with a $29 billion cleanup cost.
The list goes on and on, and one of the worst things about the bill is that it makes the everyday taxpayer - you and me - responsible for cleaning up the mess. From putting toxic chemicals into our water and subsidizing more coal and nuclear power plants at taxpayers' expense to exposing consumers to more Enron-like market manipulation, this bill puts communities and consumers at risk.
Our energy policy doesn't have to look like this. There is a better way. By using innovative 21st century clean energy technologies, we can clean up our environment; cut the country's dangerous dependence on oil; increase our use of clean, renewable energy; and prevent future blackouts. But instead of taking these smart choices forward, this bill takes us backwards and opens up an entirely new attack on our environment and public health.
This bill will hurt citizens in every state of the country. There's no way this bill can be fixed. Responsible leaders should stand up and soundly reject this disastrous energy bill. Members of Congress should do everything in their power - including filibuster if necessary - to ensure that this bill never becomes law.
November, 17, 2003
Contact:
David Willett, 202-675-6698
Statement of Carl Pope, Executive Director, Sierra Club
On the Energy Bill
Today, the Energy conference will consider a bill that constitutes one of the worst environmental disasters in years. Congress needs to reject this destructive bill to protect our communities and the environment.
Hatched three years ago in the backroom meetings of the Bush/Cheney Energy Task Force, this energy bill has been an act of secrecy from start to finish. Now this undemocratic process is in its final stretch. Today, the energy bill conference committee is poised to vote on a 1,148 page bill that was just released publicly for the first time on Saturday. Just as the public was excluded during the Cheney Task Force, the public is being shut out today.
Make no mistake; this bill will benefit the worst polluting industries in America. Instead of taking responsible steps forward, this bill would take us backwards and put our communities at risk. The majority of Americans don't want this bill. They don't want to breathe dirtier air, they don't want to drink polluted water, and they don't want their precious natural heritage sold out to the oil and gas industry.
This bill hands over our public lands to big oil companies, making oil and gas drilling the dominant use of our pubic lands. The bill will turn back the clock on clean air gains that we've made in recent decades, weakening the Clean Air Act and making it easier for polluters to dirty our air for longer. The bill will take the teeth out of our clean water laws where it comes to oil companies, exempting oil and gas activities from the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts. It even lets MTBE (a gasoline additive found to pollute drinking water) manufacturers off the hook for cleaning up their own mess - saddling local communities with a $29 billion cleanup cost.
The list goes on and on, and one of the worst things about the bill is that it makes the everyday taxpayer - you and me - responsible for cleaning up the mess. From putting toxic chemicals into our water and subsidizing more coal and nuclear power plants at taxpayers' expense to exposing consumers to more Enron-like market manipulation, this bill puts communities and consumers at risk.
Our energy policy doesn't have to look like this. There is a better way. By using innovative 21st century clean energy technologies, we can clean up our environment; cut the country's dangerous dependence on oil; increase our use of clean, renewable energy; and prevent future blackouts. But instead of taking these smart choices forward, this bill takes us backwards and opens up an entirely new attack on our environment and public health.
This bill will hurt citizens in every state of the country. There's no way this bill can be fixed. Responsible leaders should stand up and soundly reject this disastrous energy bill. Members of Congress should do everything in their power - including filibuster if necessary - to ensure that this bill never becomes law.