Bush Administration's efforts to gut the Clean Air Act thwarted!

Date:   4/7/2006 2:04:26 AM ( 18 y ago)

Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006
From: Frances Beinecke, National Rersources Defense Council President
Subject: NRDC scores major clean air victory!

Dear NRDC Member,

Only a few days ago, I wrote to you with the terrific news of our courtroom
victory over the Bush administration's plans for a massive rock mining project in Florida's fragile Everglades.

Now, I've got more good environmental news to report. NRDC has turned back the Bush administration's most aggressive attempt to dismantle the Clean Air Act for the sake of America's biggest polluters.

Four years ago, the administration issued new rules that would have allowed
20,000 aging power plants, oil refineries and other big polluters to evade
pollution controls required by law. These proposed changes, shaped directly by industry lobbyists, were little more than a payback to Big Oil and Big Coal for their lavish campaign contributions.

This devastating reversal of the Clean Air Act would have given ExxonMobil and other industry giants a free pass to clog our air with hundreds of thousands more tons of harmful pollution. And it could have led to a dramatic increase in asthma and heart attacks, hospitalizations and premature deaths. The most vulnerable -- children, seniors and those already struggling to breathe in our cities -- would have suffered the most.

In response, NRDC mobilized thousands of our Members and online activists to protest this unprecedented attack on our clean air safeguards. When the Bush administration moved ahead anyway, we raced to court and argued that the new rules would cause permanent injury to millions of Americans. In December 2003, the court took the unusual step of blocking the new rules from taking effect until the full case could be heard.

Now, the U.S. Court of Appeals has issued a ruling that slams the door on the administration's attempt to sabotage the Clean Air Act. The court rebuked the Bush plan for threatening the health of millions and undermining a law that was meant to limit pollution, not increase it!

This victory proves once again that the courts are our last line of defense
against the Bush administration's worst attacks. And we could not have fought and won this lengthy legal battle without the generous and sustained financial support of NRDC Members like you.

Thank you so much for helping to make this historic victory possible.

Sincerely,

Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council

NRDC: http://www.nrdc.org

Related Blogs:

Everglades Saved!   
  Bush Administration plan to mine in the Florida Everglades thwarted!

Victory for Whales!    
  Corporate shareholders in Japanese commercial whaling agree to divest their shares in the whaling business!

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