EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011

Floor Speech

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, the debate on the GOP pollution bills has been very heated at times. The debate has exposed very divergent views between the parties here in Congress on the importance of clean air and on the value of good health for all Americans.

Despite our differences on how we treat air pollution, my amendment offers us an opportunity to come together on a bipartisan basis, specifically to protect the health of our older neighbors--America's seniors.

The passage of my amendment will not prevent the passage of the underlying bill. If the amendment is adopted, it will be incorporated into the bill, and the bill will proceed to a vote. The amendment I offer today will ensure that we respect the health of our older neighbors, our parents, and our grandparents by protecting the quality of the air that they breathe.

Seniors are more susceptible than others to the harmful impacts of dirty air and pollution, and our neighbors need to understand what is in the air that they breathe, so my amendment proposes to do two things:

One, require waste incinerators located within 5 miles of a nursing home, an assisted living facility, or a hospital to simply use the most effective pollution control methods available. Two, require polluting boilers to notify surrounding communities of toxic emissions.

Without my amendment, the GOP bill will cause a dramatic increase in the emissions of mercury, dioxins, acid gases, and sulfur dioxide near populations that are particularly vulnerable to pollution.

Madam Speaker, the Clean Air Act protects us all from some of the most carcinogenic and dangerous pollutants. Mercury damages the developing brain and reduces IQ and the ability to learn. Sulfur dioxide is known to interfere with breathing, and as a result, is especially harmful to seniors.

Some seniors are so sensitive to dirty air and pollution they require oxygen tanks to aid their breathing, and a variety of health conditions afflicting seniors is aggravated by poor air quality. Any increase in hazardous air pollution will disproportionately harm our older neighbors at a time in their lives when they are the most vulnerable. We can save lives, and we can save money by requiring that these waste incinerators that are located near our older neighbors use the most effective pollution control methods available.

When it comes to the health and health care costs for older Americans, my colleagues, we've got to be smarter. It is not wise to aggravate the respiratory ailments of our older neighbors who likely are on Medicare, just as it is not wise for the GOP to advocate for ending Medicare as we know it. It doesn't save any money.

The nonpartisan CBO explained that the GOP plan to dismantle Medicare would simply shift costs to seniors without addressing the underlying issues. Actually, the GOP pollution bills here can be viewed as handing our parents, our grandparents, and our older neighbors higher medical bills tied to dirtier air.

So let's be smart. Let's ensure that waste incinerators located in areas where our seniors live use the most effective pollution controls. Other industries have done it, and this small industrial subset should not receive a special interest ``carve-out.''

Madam Speaker, while our older neighbors would be disproportionately affected by this GOP bill in its current form, they're not the only ones. Young people and pregnant women are also extremely vulnerable to an increase in the toxic emissions that this GOP bill promotes. This Congress has a duty to prevent such harm from happening when the evidence is so clear.

One sure way that we can help our families take adequate steps to protect themselves and their children is to ensure they're fully aware of the dangers that they face from specific pollution sources. So this amendment also requires large boilers to notify their local communities of emissions that are likely to increase because of this GOP bill. That way, families can take adequate steps to protect their children from mercury, dioxins, particulates, and sulfur dioxide. This information will also enable our local communities to make determinations on where to locate playgrounds and schools.

We must ensure that our families and communities have all the information they need to make the best decisions for the health of their children, and that they have a complete understanding of the location and scale of the threat posed by air pollution.

Madam Speaker, the GOP bill blocks critical health protections against air pollution. The EPA estimates that the GOP's anti-clean air bills together mean over 30,000 more premature deaths, over 19,000 additional heart attacks, and over 200,000 asthma attacks that otherwise would have been prevented.

We shouldn't let it happen.

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