Don't let the Senate stall progress! Tell them we need strong legislation on climate and energy, not attacks on the Clean Air Act.
Your U.S. Senators could be asked to vote soon on an amendment that could take away the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ability to enforce the Clean Air Act. Late last year, EPA announced that global warming emissions represent a danger to public health just like other forms of air pollution, and that the Clean Air Act needs to be put into action to reduce this pollution.
Clean Water Action is working to strengthen and defend our important laws that protect public health and the environment...but we can't do it without your help.
The science is clear: climate change has already begun to devastate our water resources, and we must act now to head off the worst impacts on public health, on water and other natural resources, and on our economy. Some U.S. Senators and industry lobbyists want to undermine the Clean Air Act. This is a dangerous precedent and flies in the face of what science tells us our government needs to do right now.
Anyone whose ever been stuck behind a dump truck knows the black exhaust pouring out of diesel-powered vehicles is unpleasant, to say the least. What they, and you, might not know is what's in the exhaust and how it affects us. The black exhaust pouring out of diesel vehicles chips away at our health, putting Michiganders at an increased risk of heart attacks, lung cancer, and asthma. Diesel pollution is a silent killer.
In Michigan alone, it is annually estimated to cause the early deaths of 443 people, more than 15,000 asthma attacks, 648 non-fatal heart attacks, and over 57,000 lost work days. Further, diesel emissions have been shown to have 7 times the lifetime cancer risk than that posed by all the other 181 hazardous air pollutants combined.
Michigan is currently at a crossroads to secure our economic and energy future. Bold, immediate leadership is required to bring new industries to Michigan - including clean, alternative energy sources like advanced batteries, wind, energy efficiency and solar power - before other states position themselves as the leaders and draw investment in these emerging industries. By acting now, we can make Michigan a leader and make clean energy the profitable kind of energy.
The drinking water of between 15 and 20 million Californians is contaminated with perchlorate, a salt that is used as the primary component of solid rocket fuel.
Perchlorate poses a health threat by impacting the thyroid's ability to take up iodide and produce thyroid hormone. Even a short term reduction in thyroid hormone can irreparably impair brain development in fetuses and infants, and impact iodide deficient individuals and those already with thyroid problems.
Despite these serious health impacts, there is no federal drinking water standard for perchlorate thanks to pressure from the White House and polluters such as the Department of Defense.
Take action now: Tell Governor Schwarzenegger that we do not want rocket fuel in our drinking water and that we support lowering the perchlorate public health goal.
The Clean Air Act requires polluters to disclose their levels of emissions. Now producers of "biomass" power want a blanket exemption from reporting their emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution. Tell the EPA to hold all energy producers accountable for their pollution.
Biomass is a term that includes many different fuel types such as trees; construction, wood, and agricultural wastes; and more. Due to the differences among types of biomass, it makes no sense to assume that none of them contribute to global warming. Some forms of biomass can be part of the clean energy solution, but science shows that if done wrong, biomass can increase greenhouse gas emissions, undermining our climate goals.
In September, the US Senate will decide on critical legislation that will affect the safety of the food supply in our nation. Unfortunately, Senators still need to be convinced that getting the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) out of our food and beverage containers is an urgent food safety issue that MUST be addressed in the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010.
Take a minute and send this urgent letter asking your Senators to support an amendment proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein that would get BPA out of baby bottles, sippy cups, infant formula and baby food as part of the Food Safety legislation.
Drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale is severely damaging our state's environment and local communities. The drillers are not paying to clean it up, and with fewer state dollars going to environmental protection each year, this is a dangerous mix. Take action now and demand that our state legislature impose a tax on the extraction of natural gas. The natural gas drilling industry in Pennsylvania is getting an unfair deal that puts our state's land, air, and water quality at risk for generations to come.
The U.S. Senate needs to hear from you that dirty bioenergy sources, like corn ethanol, are not the answer to our energy and climate crises. Right now, the Senate is deciding what to about these pressing issues. Some negative impacts of corn ethanol production:
It seemed crystal clear. When Consumers Energy recently shelved plans for a dirty, unneeded coal plant that would have saddled ratepayers and shareholders with billions in costs, it appeared as though the utility giant was finally seeing clearly.
Unfortunately, that's not the case.
Consumers is seeing about as clearly as if the board were wearing mud-covered glasses. That's the only explanation possible for the decision to pursue permits to drain wetlands in a watershed that directly impacts Lake Huron near Bay City for the new, dirty, costly, and unneeded coal plant. A plant, remember, the utility said was put on hold indefinitely.
The number one cause of pollution in New Jersey's waterways is phosphorus and nitrogen, two substances found in inorganic fertilizers. Fertilizer runoff is not only destroying important water resources, right now it is literally killing Barnegat Bay, one of the state's most important estuaries, ecosystems, and watersheds.
This comes at tremendous public health, environmental and economic costs from fish kills, cancer, and increased water treatment and rates to damaging New Jersey's multi-billion dollar tourism and fishing industries. Tell key legislators and the Governor that this is unacceptable.