Quigley Defends EPA from House "Dirty Air' Act

Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05) stood with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to support energy independence, public health, and science as he opposed H.R. 910, the inaccurately named Energy Tax Prevention Act. Quigley introduced an amendment to illustrate the bill's ruinous effect on health care costs, participated in a press conference with the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, and spoke out against what he called the "Dirty Air Act" twice on the House floor.

"The Dirty Air Act does the exact opposite of what we must do: protect our public health, move toward energy independence, and stand for the integrity of science," said Quigley. "The EPA and the lifesaving mission of the Clean Air Act are under attack and on behalf of all Americans it is our duty to fight for them."

Quigley's amendment calls for the Government Accountability Office to calculate the Clean Air Act's effect on health care costs, as well as the consequences of its repeal. In 2010 alone, EPA reported, the reduction in air pollution from the Clean Air Act prevented more than 160,000 premature deaths, 130,000 heart attacks, 13 million lost work days and 1.7 asthma attacks. In an exchange on the House floor, a congressman questioned whether greenhouse gases pose a health risk. Quigley responded by asking for the study to "prove me wrong."

In another floor speech, he spoke about the hazardous effects of the Fisk and Crawford power plants that cost 41 Chicagoans their lives every year, according to the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago.

H.R. 910 is officially called the "Energy Tax Prevention Act," although it would not prevent any taxes from being leveraged on energy resources. It would legislatively overturn the Supreme Court decision made in Massachusetts v. EPA, where the Court ruled that the EPA does in fact have the authority to regulate greenhouse gasses as said in the tenets of the Clean Air Act.

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