WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act is a law with a nearly 40-year track record of cutting dangerous pollution to protect human health and the environment and spur innovation; and
WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Agency in 2009 officially recognized that the carbon pollution from our cars and power plants leads to killer heat waves, stronger hurricanes, higher smog levels, and many other direct and indirect threats to human health; and
WHEREAS, Latino communities are disproportionately impacted by threat of air pollution because some 80 percent of Latinos live in areas that fail to meet federal Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards; and
WHEREAS, daily exposure to air pollution from power plants, the largest industrial source of pollution, creates negative long-term health effects; and
WHEREAS, in 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that global warming pollutants are covered by the Clean Air Act and President Barack Obama began complying with the Court ruling last year by implementing that law to cut global warming pollution, reduce America’s oil dependence, save consumers money at the pump, and create new jobs making more efficient and competitive vehicles; and
WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act will ensure that the largest power plants and factories use modern technology to reduce their global warming pollution and use cleaner energy; and
WHEREAS, current efforts to undermine the Clean Air Act would derail progress to set a clear energy and climate policy that will unlock billions of dollars in job-creating clean energy investments; and
WHEREAS, efforts such as those proposed by Sen. Murkowski (R-AK) (who was joined by a bipartisan group of 40 legislators, many of whom represent districts that are heavily Latino), Rep. Moran (R-KS), and Rep. Pomeroy (D-ND) would strike at the heart of the Clean Air Act, harming Latino communities and other low-income communities and communities of color by blocking these actions and letting America’s biggest polluters off the hook; and
WHEREAS, any attack on the Clean Air Act is a step backward for public health that puts our communities at risk, undermines a clean energy economy, and inappropriately injects Congress into scientific decisions; and
WHEREAS, Congress must continue to move forward with EPA to tackle the critical challenge of climate change while enacting comprehensive energy and climate legislation to build a clean energy economy, create jobs, and protect the environment and our health;
1. THEREFORE WE RESOLVE, we the Members of the 2010 National Latino Congreso strongly oppose the ‘Dirty Air Act’ proposals by Sen. Murkowski (R-AK), Rep. Moran (R-KS), and Rep. Pomeroy (D-ND) to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific finding that global warming pollutants endanger public health and welfare in order to block the agency’s implementation of the Clean Air Act to protect our health and welfare from global warming; and
2. FURTHER WE RESOLVE, we the Members of the 2010 National Latino Congreso believe that these three separate proposals from the U.S. Congress represent a direct attack on the Clean Air Act, putting public health at risk and jeopardizing long-overdue action to hold the biggest polluters accountable, reduce America’s oil dependence, and jump-start a vibrant clean energy economy.
