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Hold corporate polluters accountable

By Staff | Sep 8, 2010

To the editor,

This summer, corporate polluters and their lobbyists succeeded in stalling Senate legislation on clean energy and climate. Now, as the EPA seeks to move forward on the agency’s top priority of enforcing common-sense safeguards to protect public health, like the Clean Air Act, corporate polluters are once again trying to block progress.

Over the next few months, there are a number of environmental safeguards that we must act to protect. These include:

• The Good Neighbor Rule, which could help avoid at least 23,000 heart attacks, 26,000 hospital visits, 240,000 asthma attacks and 36,000 premature deaths from polluted air each year.

• The smog, or ozone, rule, which could prevent more than 5,000 heart attacks and up to 12,000 premature deaths annually.

• The coal ash rule, which could keep known carcinogens from toxic coal leftovers it of our water.

These safeguards use science to prevent premature deaths, heart attacks, asthma and cancer, but dirty industries are dead set on blocking them. They are asking for nothing less than a license to kill.

Our country must clear the way for the EPA to set the strongest possible standards to protect our public health and welfare. We must hold corporate polluters accountable and speed the transition to a clean energy economy.

Jennifer Scott

Fort Myers