Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of my amendment to H.R. 3797, the so-called Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment Act. This bill is anything but that.

What this bill does do is that it gives special breaks under two very important Clean Air Act rules and allows certain power plants to spew out as much nasty pollution as they wish to. These power plants, which use waste coal, still emit all the toxic substances a regular coal plant does, and they absolutely should not get a pass.

If the SENSE Act passes, it will significantly affect air quality. This is not some radical assertion, and it has stood up to the scrutiny of the courts. These rules, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule, are two important rules for protecting public health from toxic air pollutants like mercury and sulfur dioxide.

If this bill were to become law, waste coal facilities would be able to pollute at a higher rate than any other power plants. There are many pieces of particulate matter emitted by coal plants, such as sulfur dioxide, mercury, and others, and science has clearly shown that air pollutants such as these cause severity when it comes to asthma, bronchitis, and even can contribute to heart attack risk. My amendment protects the most vulnerable from these adverse health effects.

My amendment today would ensure that public health is front and center in this conversation, which it needs to be. Air quality is an issue that affects the most vulnerable among us.

When you think about it, children, pregnant women, and the elderly are some of the members of our society that are most at risk when it comes to respiratory diseases from toxic emissions, such as sulfur dioxide. My amendment ensures that the effects of air quality are taken into account before enactment of the SENSE Act.

Mr. Chairman, I know a thing or two about this. I don't know how often you get to Dallas-Fort Worth, but when you come to our area, despite all the jobs and prosperity that we have, we have some of the absolute worst smog in the entire country.

This amendment would serve to protect vulnerable populations by ensuring their health is not in danger if this bill becomes law.

Also, only after their health has been deemed safe may the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency allow this law to go into effect.

There are so many different economic costs when it comes to asthma, Mr. Chairman. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alone estimates that asthma costs the United States $56 billion each year when it comes to treating people for asthma, particularly our young children with asthma.

So at the end of the day, what I want to do, Mr. Chairman, is make sure that the least that we do in this House is to make sure that everybody can breathe clean air. I don't think that that is asking for too much.

If my Republican colleagues truly believe the public health of our Nation will not be affected by this bill, they will have no problem voting for my amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

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