HARRISBURG—Today
the Pennsylvania state Senate passed what amounts to the worst
weakening of state-level clean air standards in recent memory. The
Senate voted 27-20 for an anti-clean cars bill (Senate Bill 1025)
despite the protests of public health and citizens groups, including
the Pennsylvania Parent Teachers Association, the Pennsylvania State
Nurses Association, and the American Lung Association of Pennsylvania.
Senate
Bill 1025 would block state regulators from implementing the strong
clean air standards for cars and trucks contained within the
Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program, dramatically weakening the
Commonwealth’s ability to control asthma-inducing air pollution and
cancer- causing emissions from automobiles. Today’s vote in the Senate
occurred roughly two months after a similar effort was stalled in the
state House of Representatives.
“Today
is a sad day for Pennsylvania’s environment and public health,” said
PennEnvironment energy & clean air advocate Nathan Willcox. “With
more than 370,000 asthma attacks triggered in the Commonwealth by smog
each year, it is shocking that our politicians would vote to weaken
clean air regulations.” Willcox testified on behalf of PennEnvironment
in strong opposition to SB 1025 at a December 13, 2005 Senate joint
committee hearing.
Many
environmental and public health advocates see this as the most
comprehensive attack on the state’s clean air rules in years, at a time
when nearly two thirds of Pennsylvania’s counties do not comply with
health-based standards for smog pollution under the federal Clean Air
Act. Smog pollution is known to trigger asthma, and is responsible for
the “code red” pollution days during summer months across the
Commonwealth. For these reasons, many public health and citizens groups
publicly opposed the anti-clean cars bill, including the American Lung
Association of Pennsylvania, Physicians for Social Responsibility,
Women’s Health & Environmental Network, Pennsylvania State Nurses
Association, Pennsylvania Parent Teachers Association, and Citizens for
Consumer Justice.
In
October, a number of legislators in the state House tried to pass their
version of this rollback—House Bill 2141—without giving any notice and
without holding any public hearings. After that sneak-attack was
stalled, leaders in the Senate introduced their version, SB 1025. These
bills have been filed in response to the Department of Environmental
Protection’s work to implement new clean air standards within the
Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program. These standards would reduce
smog-forming emissions from automobiles and light trucks in
Pennsylvania by approximately 10 percent, toxic benzene pollution by up
to 15 percent and global warming emissions from cars and light trucks
by nearly 25 percent by 2025, beyond what would be accomplished under a
weaker federal program. Both bills would block the state from
implementing these stronger standards, even though 10 other
states—including New York and New Jersey—have already adopted the same
standards.
“Pennsylvania
can’t afford to take steps backward in the fight against air pollution,
but that’s exactly what today’s vote unfortunately does,” said Willcox.
SB 1025 will now move to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Smog
is considered to be one of the worst air pollutants plaguing the
Commonwealth. It causes a host of respiratory problems, including
asthma in young children. Even in healthy adults, smog causes breathing
difficulties, increased congestion, pulmonary inflammation and other
problems during outdoor exercise. Nearly two thirds of Pennsylvania
counties currently fail to comply with the federal Clean Air Act
because of high smog levels.
PennEnvironment
applauded the 20 senators who stood up for stronger clean air standards
by voting against SB 1025: Senators Boscola, Conti, Costa, Erickson,
Ferlo, Fontana, Greenleaf, Hughes, Kitchen, O’Pake, Pileggi, Rafferty,
Stack, Tartaglione, Tomlinson, Washington, Waugh, Anthony Williams,
Constance Williams, and Wonderling. Aside from two absent senators
(Senators Fumo and Vance), all other senators voted in favor of SB
1025.
