THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES

MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release:
Friday, February 22, 2002

Contacts:
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576,
 nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
 scottmclarty@yahoo.com


GREENS BLAST THE BUSH ENERGY DEPARTMENT'S PLAN TO
GUT THE CLEAN AIR ACT

*** Greens, other environmental activists oppose
the assault on New Source Review requirements for
old power plants, and urge EPA chief Whitman to
stand up to the polluter lobby inside the Bush
Administration


BETH A. McCONNELL, Pennsylvania Public Interest
Research Group (nonpartisan organization):
"President Bush's Energy Department is poised to
eliminate a requirement of the Clean Air Act that
old power plants install modern air pollution
equipment when they upgrade, thereby severely
weakening efforts to reduce air pollution. More
than 30,000 Americans lives are cut short each
year due to power plant pollution. Now is the
time that we should be coming down hard on air
polluters, not relaxing clean air standards. The
plan will jeopardize the health of every
American, and will undo decades of clean air
progress."


J. ROY CANNON, Green Party of Delaware: "We urge
EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman to
uphold her obligation to protect the American
public from the hazards of pollution, and to
continue to stand up to the Energy Department's
plan. Last year, Ms. Whitman compromised on both
the Kyoto global warming treaty and the
regulation to limit arsenic in drinking water,
which was later reversed after a storm of public
protest. But Ms. Whitman, as governor of New
Jersey, supported strict enforcement of the New
Source Review program to make plants restrict
emissions, and we urge her to stand firm against
this latest attempt to satisfy the polluter lobby
inside the Bush Administration."


ANNIE GOEKE, Pennsylvania Green and co-chair of
the national party's International Committee:
"The Bush Administration's Energy Department,
caving in to the oil and gas, coal, and chemical
manufacturer lobbies, wants to gut the 'New
Source Review.' This is the provision that
requires hundreds of dirty old power plants,
including coal plants, which were grandfathered
out of the 1970 Clean Air Act's "Best Available
Control Technology" requirement to reduce air
pollution, to use the most up-to-date and
effective air pollution controls when upgrading
their facilities. Marc Racicot, chair of the
Republican Party, has lobbied the White House for
years to weaken the Clean Air Act, and he
continues to be associated with a law firm that
is leading the assault against clean air. Since
Bush and Cheney are former oil industry
executives, it might not take much persuasion."


CAROL MILLER, New Mexico Green and public health
leader: "The Energy Department proposal will
allow plants to pump sulfur dioxide and nitrogen
oxide emissions in the air for decades to come.
Sulfur dioxide causes acid rain and nitrogen
oxide causes urban smog. The proposal will cause
a whole range of serious health problems
including asthma, lung cancer and heart disease,
especially in cities where children already
suffer record asthma rates. We call on every
single member of Congress to pass federal
legislation to oppose it, and we urge Americans
to contact their Representatives and Senators
immediately and demand that they take action to
block this dangerous move."


TOM SEVIGNY, Connecticut Green, member of the
national Steering Committee of the Green Party of
the United States: "The ghost of Enron lives on
in these defective Bush air policies. Bush
should know by now that market-based systems,
like his proposed 'cap and trade' emission
trading program, have not worked and will not
work to clean up our air. It's just another
shell game to allow corporate wheeler dealers to
create a new market for speculative trading, and
even if it were approved, it might not go into
effect for years while old power plants would be
allowed to avoid installing modern pollution
equipment when they upgrade. It's more corporate
welfare at the expense of the environment, with
corporate polluters showered with billions in new
credits while we get acid rain and asthma.
That's what Enron lobbied for behind closed
doors."


MORE INFORMATION

The Green Party of the United States
 http://gpus.org
 http://www.greenpartyus.org


END