Kristin Brown / League of Conservation Voters – 2017-03-03 00:28:12
URGENT: Senate to Take Up Bill Giving Oil and
Gas Industry Free Pass to Pollute Our Air
Kristin Brown / League of Conservation Voters
(March 2, 2017) — This is OUTRAGEOUS. The House of Representatives recently used a radical legislative tool called the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to PERMANENTLY scrap critical protections against dangerous methane pollution from oil and gas drilling on public lands.
The Senate could take up the bill at any moment. If they succeed in passing this legislation, we will NEVER be able to cut methane pollution in this way again, leaving our climate and thousands of people who live near oil and gas infrastructure at risk.
The Senate must stop this blatant attempt to allow the oil and gas industry to waste taxpayer money while polluting our air and damaging our climate. We’ve been ramping up pressure for weeks on the Hill and in senators’ home states. We only need a few more “no” votes to stop this incredibly radical legislation in its tracks. Will you help to keep up the momentum?
When the oil and gas industry drills on public lands, they oftentimes vent, flare, and leak dangerous methane pollution into our air. This not only contributes to climate change, but also contributes to smog that increases rates of asthma attacks in children and could cost taxpayers up to $800 million in lost royalty revenues over a decade!
The final Methane Rule will greatly reduce wasteful leaks and the practice of venting and flaring of dangerous methane pollution. These protections are a win-win-win: they keep our communities and our children healthy, protect our climate and environment, and contribute important revenue to our local, state, and federal government.
If the Senate overturns this important rule, our communities will pay the price. That’s why your senators need to hear from you today. It’ll be much harder for them to side with polluters if they are deluged with calls and petitions from constituents telling them to take a stand against pollution and protect our environment.
Don’t let the Senate permanently block critical protections against pollution from the oil and gas industry! Tell your senators to vote NO on the CRA to roll back safeguards from methane pollution and put our health and climate above the profits of polluters. For our families’ health and that of future generations, we must keep the Methane Rule in place.
Take this important stand for our health and environment. Sign here and tell your senators to vote NO against any attempts to roll back crucial air and climate protections. Tell your senators to protect OUR interests, not polluters. Add your name, then share with friends and family.
The Bureau of Land Management’s Methane and Waste Prevention Rule will reduce dangerous methane pollution from the oil and gas industry on our public and tribal lands, but it’s under attack.
Methane is a highly potent climate pollutant and contributes to higher levels of smog that has been linked to asthma attacks. The BLM’s commonsense safeguards to reduce methane pollution will prevent waste of a valuable natural resource and ensure taxpayers receive a fair return on the use of our public lands.
However, Congressional Republican leadership and their Big Oil allies are fighting this regulation with everything they’ve got- going so far as to use an extreme tool, the Congressional Review Act, to not only vacate this rule but prevent the agency from ever working to reduce methane pollution from the oil and gas industry in the future. The radical nature of this attack on these important safeguards cannot be emphasized enough!
Don’t let Big Polluters get away with damaging our climate, health, and public lands by dumping unlimited methane pollution into our air. Tell your Senator to oppose this extreme attack today!
THE LETTER
VOTE NO on H.J. Res. 36,
The Congressional Review Act of the BLM’s Methane Rule
Dear Senator,
I am writing to ask you to oppose H.J. Res. 36, the Congressional Review Act (CRA) “Resolution of Disapproval” of the Bureau of Land Management’s Methane and Waste Prevention Rule.
Methane pollution from the oil and gas industry on our public and tribal lands contributes to our changing climate and is accompanied by other toxic air pollutants that contribute to smog and worsen asthma attacks for our children. Additionally, methane that is leaked, vented, and flared from our public lands wastes a valuable resource that could be heating our homes.
The BLM’s commonsense rule would reduce this dangerous methane pollution while also ensuring taxpayers receive a fair return on their resources, providing much-needed revenue to federal, local, and tribal governments.
The CRA is an extreme legislative tool that not only vacates the current rule but would prevent the agency from ever issuing a rule to address methane pollution in the future.
This would disregard the rule-making process, cutting out all the stakeholders who voiced their opinions on the rule and leave the future of our public lands, climate, and health in jeopardy.
Kristin Brown is the Director of Digital Strategy for the League of Conservation Voters.
WEEK IN REVIEW:
All Out Assault
Sen. Carper, Rep. Ruiz Join LCV to Unveil
2016 National Environmental Scorecard
With environmental attacks from the White House and Congress coming fast, LCV this week released the 2016 National Environmental Scorecard — the premier yardstick for rating lawmakers on environmental issues.
LCV SVP for Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld noted that votes scored include the “relentless assault on both bedrock environmental protections and recent progress,” from Republicans in the 114th Congress.
This previews what we can expect in the year to come, with laws vetoed by the Obama administration set to be the playbook corporate polluters follow.
Joining LCV for the rollout, Sen. Tom Carper reiterated that he was up for the fight. “We will not shy away from the hard work of preserving past successes and fighting to continue moving our country forward,” said Sen. Carper. Dr. Raul Ruiz (D-CA), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke passionately about the need to “protect our public lands and wildlife, ensure clean air to breathe and water to drink, and fund critical research that will lead to better environmental health.”
* View the full 2016 Environmental Scorecard in English and Spanish Here *
Trump Signs Executive Order Introducing
Regulatory Rollback Task Forces
Today, President Trump signed an executive order that, under the guise of regulatory reform, would instruct federal agencies to take a sledgehammer to commonsense safeguards that protect Americans from harm to public health and safety.
With his actions, the president is “rigging the system so corporate lobbyists can lower standards that protect the public health and safety of all people in this country,” said LCV Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld.
Trump, Pruitt Plan Significant Attacks on
Clean Power Plan, Water
In the coming days, the administration is expected to announce executive orders targeting clean air and clean water protections put in place under the Obama administration. Undoing the Clean Power Plan, lifting the moratorium on federal coal leasing and tackling the Waters of the United States Rule are all on the agenda.
Pruitt Emails Confirm EPA Administrator Insufficiently Vetted
Released by court order this week, Scott Pruitt’s emails provided further insight into Pruitt and his staff, long accused of extremely cozy ties to the oil and gas industry. The emails’ content and tone only confirm Senate Democrats’ and green groups’ suspicions behind Pruitt’s rushed confirmation vote — that Pruitt is unfit to lead the EPA, and that Republicans rushed to jam through a nominee with unprecedented conflicts of interest.
You can read the more than 7,500 pages of emails released here, and give Pruitt the vetting that Senate Republicans did not consider necessary.
FIRST ADDRESS: Pruitt Forgets He’s
Working For The Environmental Protection Agency
Pruitt’s first speech as EPA Administrator somehow managed not to mention climate change, and did nothing to address environmentalists concerns over Pruitt’s confirmation, forced through by Senate Republicans last week.
“Pruitt has been a shill for the fossil fuel industry his entire career,” said LCV SVP for Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld, “and there’s no reason to believe he’s going to stop now that he’s the head of the very agency in charge of protecting human health and the environment.”
LCV Holds Flake, Heller Accountable for Their Pruitt Vote
LCV this week announced a $580,000 ad buy to ensure constituents know exactly where Sens. Dean Heller and Jeff Flake stand when it comes to renewable energy, clean air, and water. For those lawmakers that choose to vote for nominees like Scott Pruitt, and for legislation that supports President Trump’s dangerous agenda, their actions will not go unnoticed.
The Resistance: “You Cannot Rely on
Congress to be the Backstop . . . . We Have to do this Together”
Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto and LCV’s Chispa program voiced their concerns about Scott Pruitt’s dangerous plans for the EPA. Sen. Cortez Masto stressed the need to push back against the administration using all the voices available to us. She said, “All the advocacy groups, everybody who cares about protecting our water, our land and our air. You cannot rely on us in Congress to be the backstop — we have to do this together.”
Also discussed during the event: the 20,000 clean energy jobs in Nevada and the room for this industry to grow in the years to come.
EVICTION NOTICE: Trump Administration Kicks The Council on Environmental Quality To The Curb
Looks like old habits die hard for Landlord Trump. Yesterday, the Trump administration forced the Council on Environmental Quality to leave the headquarters they have occupied for four decades.
LCV Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld slammed the move as further evidence of the President’s “disdain for protecting public health and the environment.”
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