SEN. VOINOVICH TO MAKE CLEAN AIR INTERSTATE RULE LAW
Will protect human health and the environment
September 11, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator George V. Voinovich (R-OH), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, today will move to preserve the ability of states to protect human health and the environment by introducing legislation to reinstate the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) into law. The rule was vacated by the D.C. Circuit Court in July in a ruling that threw into jeopardy the vital nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions reduction requirements for the power sector that were scheduled to begin in 2009.
“The emissions reductions resulting from the Clean Air Interstate Rule will save thousands of lives and improve the health of citizens across the nation,” Sen. Voinovich said. “I will not stand idly by and let the most significant action to protect public health and the environment since the passage of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments fall by the wayside. It must become law.”
CAIR contains three regulatory programs intended to support the efforts of 28 eastern states and the District of Columbia to meet their obligations to attain the fine particle and ozone air quality standards. It is the linchpin of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) program to improve air quality and was EPA’s response to help states meet their state responsibilities under the Clean Air Act based on their successful experience addressing acid rain in the 1990s.
CAIR is supported by industry, environmental groups and a majority of states. The EPA estimates it will have direct and enormous annual health and welfare benefits, including:
• 17,000 premature deaths avoided by 2015;
• 22,000 non-fatal heart attacks avoided;
• 27,000 hospital admissions/ER visits avoided; and
• 1.7 million work-loss days avoided
In total, the benefits were estimated to be over 25 times greater than their costs, according to the EPA.
The enactment of this legislation would in no manner prohibit states from imposing stricter limits. It would also not prohibit Congress or the EPA from revisiting or increasing the reduction level requirements in future years, either by rule or statute.
It simply ensures that these full benefits are realized and that the air continues to get cleaner in the near term and in the future. Sen. Voinovich’s bill reestablishes a much-needed and critical floor for clean air reduction requirements that doesn’t hold any of the public health benefits hostage to political debate.
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