Transmarency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act of 2011

Floor Speech

Ms. MOORE. I do thank you, Mr. Chair.

My amendment would simply ensure the low-income communities and the public health generally of all Americans are considered in the bill's section on studies about the impact of this regulation.

I offer this amendment, Mr. Chair, in hopes that we might have an honest debate, a debate that is inclusive of those most affected by the very policies that my colleagues are attempting to tie up and, in two cases, outright prevent.

Let me be frank with you, Mr. Chair. I was born in 1951, and I grew up gasping for breath most of my life. I grew up in an industrial city, a manufacturing city in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I had my first asthma attack shoveling coal into a furnace and then gasping for breath because of the smog that was generated from manufacturing. Thank God for the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments.

We have seen tremendous health benefits over the years, thanks to the work of the Environmental Protection Agency, and not only the bureaucracy, but the courts that have made sure the deadlines are enforced and not simply thrown to the curb. According to a recent EPA study, we have substantial and hard scientific proof that protecting our Nation's air quality from hazardous pollutants is a very substantial benefit.

In 2010, the reductions in fine particle and ozone pollution from the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments prevented more than 160,000 cases of premature mortality, 130,000 heart attacks, 13 million lost workdays, and 1.7 million asthma attacks.

We do know that the Clean Air Act regulations by the EPA especially helped low-income communities who are often impacted by environmental injustices and other vulnerable populations.

A recent 2-year-old study by the University of Massachusetts and the University of Southern Carolina analyzed 300 different metropolitan areas and ranked them based on how pollution affects low-income and minority communities.

This study cited that air pollution is unevenly distributed within States as well as between them. A growing body of research has demonstrated that people of color and low-income communities often face the greatest environmental hazards. And the area that I represent in the metro Milwaukee area came in in the top 10 cities in both cases.

I just would like to add my own personal experience to the body of this research.

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Ms. MOORE. Well, I do thank the gentleman for accepting this amendment.

I do repeat that the two parts that this bill had formally included prior to your accepting my amendment would have made it impossible for a State that wanted clear air--they would find themselves hopeless because it would basically eviscerate their ability to prevent pollution from crossing the border. So I do appreciate the gentleman accepting my amendment.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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