BASS, DAVIS, COOPER, BRADLEY INTRODUCE CLEAN AIR BILL

Bipartisan CAPA bill reduces emissions and keeps electricity affordable

  

WASHINGTON, D.C.---Yesterday, U.S. Representative Jim Davis (D-Tampa) joined Reps. Charles Bass (R-NH), Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Jeb Bradley (R-NH) in introducing legislation in the House that will reduce harmful emissions from our nation’s power plants while preserving the affordable electricity American families count on.

 

            The bipartisan Clean Air Planning Act (CAPA) sets national caps on emissions from electric power and cleans up emissions without impeding economic growth. The bill, H.R. 1873, provides a workable solution to achieve cleaner air, help address global warming and maintain reliable electricity for the nation. 

  

            “A product of bipartisan cooperation, the Clean Air Planning Act can make our hopes for cleaner, healthier communities a reality by offering a balanced proposal to regulating the pollutants that are degrading our environment and our quality of life,” said Congressman Davis.

 

            The nation’s electric utilities power the world’s most productive economy, but they also emit harmful pollutants.  CAPA would result in an 80% reduction of emissions of sulfur dioxide, a 66% reduction of emissions of nitrogen dioxide, an 80% reduction of mercury and return carbon dioxide to 2001 levels by 2013. 

 

            “America’s physical and economic health is dependent on clean air, water, and a predictable climate pattern,” said U. S. Rep. Bass.  “For too long, power plants have emitted toxins into the air that result in smog, haze, and acid rain.  This four-pollutants bill would set strict national limits on sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, and carbon dioxide emissions that are up 80 percent lower than current levels and would begin to address climate change.”

 

            The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has described air pollution as a silent killer that takes the lives of 64,000 Americans each year.  According to the EPA, enacting CAPA would prevent premature deaths, saving 9,600 lives by 2010 and 17,800 by 2020.

 

            “While I’m glad the EPA has issued new regulations limiting future emissions of harmful pollutants, this bill goes farther and more quickly to save more lives and prevent more hospitalizations for bronchitis, asthma and lung disease,” said Congressman Cooper.  “In addition, this bill tackles the problem of global warming, which the new EPA rules do not.  I’ve become increasingly alarmed by growing scientific evidence of climate change, and we must act quickly before it is too late.”

 

           Davis and Bass are members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee which has jurisdiction over energy issues.  Cooper was one of the original architects of the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act.  As a member of the New Hampshire State Legislature, Bradley sponsored the Clean Power Act, a piece of legislation that made New Hampshire the first state to address sulfur, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and mercury emissions.

 

            The bipartisan group introduced a similar CAPA bill in the 108th Congress.