Dirty Air Act (TRAIN) Passes the House?

MoonHowler

From Huffington Post:

The U.S. House of Representatives forwarded a bill on Friday that environmental leaders warn would undermine the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to curb air pollution and protect public health. Green groups are now urging the Senate and President Barack Obama to stand strong — and avoid a repeat of recent environmental health failures, such as the shelving of proposed ozone and greenhouse gas standards.

“The Tea Party House has passed, with ease, the most radical dirty-air legislation in the history of this country,” John Walke, the clean air director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told HuffPost. “It absolutely eviscerates the legal standards for adopting emissions limits under the Clean Air Act.”

Introduced by Rep. John Sullivan (R-Okla.), the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act would create a special committee to oversee the EPA’s rules and regulations, and require the agency to consider economic impacts on polluters when it sets standards concerning how much air pollution is too much. For the last 41 years, since passage of the Clean Air Act, only scientific and medical considerations have been allowed in that analysis.

“This results in lying to the American people about whether the air is healthy or not,” said Walke.

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Cuccinelli Ready to file Third Lawsuit–EPA is New Target

MoonHowler

Now the AG Ken Cuccinelli is ready to file his third lawsuit against the United States of America.  This time his is suing the EPA because they have said greenhouse gases and  carbon emissions are harmful.  According to Lychburg’s News and Advance:

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli stands ready to take more legal action against the federal government if the Environmental Protection Agency announces new fuel economy standards for vehicles Wednesday, he said in Lynchburg on Tuesday.

Cuccinelli has sued the EPA over its finding that greenhouse gases harm people, and if it issues regulations Wednesday that are based on that finding, “We will sue them again,” he told the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Virginia’s Democratic Party renewed its accusations Tuesday that two Cuccinelli lawsuits against the federal government over global warming and health care are wasting the state’s resources “to wage a personal, political fight.”

Apparently the AG missed seeing our atheletes disembark from the plane in Bejing 2 summers ago.  Some of them were wearing gas masks because of the horrible air quality in that city.  Where does the AG think that smog comes from?  Could it be the millions of cars in that city? 

What stance will out BOCS take on his new lawsuit?  Will they be sending him atta-boy letters on Prince William County Board of Supervisors letterhead?  At least one supervisors feels he was looking out for the people of Prince William County during the last letter of praise that went out to the AG.  Will they be willing to look out for us now, since we live in one of the most impacted emissions areas?  Will there be a directive for the AG, Cuccinelli to knock it off on our behalf?

The AG says these lawsuits only cost the $385 filing fee.  Yea.  Right.  Is he also ignoring that we are all Americans and what the cost is double?  We will pay the Virginia fees and the United States fees.  Perhaps the AG forgot we are Americans.  Meanwhile, I am not unconvinced that the AG ran for office just to advance his personal agenda and that we have given him the platform to do it.  I have to get used to this new idea that carbon emissions and green house gas emissions are good for me.  Why don’t I just go back to smoking?