Lieberman: Polluters 'Just Want A Breather' On Clean Air Rules

Think Progress:

As negotiations on a stripped-down bill to limit global warming pollution from coal-fired power plants reach the final hour, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is sympathizing with the utility industry's attempt to suspend Clean Air Act rules on pollutants that kill tens of thousands of Americans a year.

...

Today, Lieberman made the ironic claim that polluters "just want a breather" from clean air rules:

"That's a tough one. They frame it in a different way. They just want a breather. And not an eternal pre-emption. These are all topics of negotiation. That's what we're supposed to be doing here."

Read the whole story: Think Progress

Comments

[imtruthmonger]

02:49 PM on 07/22/2010

"....That’s a tough one. They frame it in a different way. They just want a breather. And not an eternal pre-emption. These are all topics of negotiation. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing here...."

NOT negotiable Mr Lieberman. I've had two "breathers" in my chest since birth and want to keep them functioning as biologically intended. I'd rather have them remain healthy than own the products corporate "Breather Needers" factories produce.

[lachihuahua]

01:17 PM on 07/22/2010

I think they've been getting quite the breather for some time now Joe. Time's up...get serious please or get out of the way! (nn)

[Aurical]

11:18 AM on 07/22/2010

Can we just trade Joe for Olympia Snowe and be done with it? I never have liked him and he has done nothing to change my opinion of him.

[CarolinaYankee]

11:13 AM on 07/22/2010

They had a breather for the entire 8 years of the Shrub administration with no regulations, it is now time for us to all breathe a little easier not just them.

[farmilyman]

10:06 AM on 07/22/2010

Lieberman needs to go for a long walk off a short pier in the gulf.

[TheyAllSuck]

09:30 AM on 07/22/2010

A half-assed health care reform act, more money to Israel, Senate gridlock on Democratic initiatives, and dumber kids from more lead poisoning. Thanks Connecticutt voters.

[ZeraLee]

05:34 AM on 07/22/2010

"breather"?? How about they give those of us who inhale a breather? We have our own aspirations, and they do not include granting delays ad infinitum.

So suck it up, polluters. You have a lot of work to do. And lots of people willing to do the work.

[bisbeeornotbisbee]

08:56 PM on 07/21/2010

Will that poor lugubrious man ever quit? This lachrymose-voiced liar is too much. He's got the most unimaginative spin I've heard in quite some time; I guess since Sarah Palin quit as Gov., and that's bad!

[BobbyPeru2]

05:16 PM on 07/21/2010

MOUTH BREATHER.

[takeabigdeepbreath]

04:41 PM on 07/21/2010

Joe's metaphor is beyond ironic. It's an insult to our intelligence. It's completely dismissive of the needs of his constituents. It's a slap in the face to future generations....

[snoopbuzz]

04:34 PM on 07/21/2010

Let us breath, so we can smoke our p ot.

[ProfessorDuh]

04:07 PM on 07/21/2010

"A breather." Droopy Dog does it again.

[yemaya]

07:01 PM on 07/21/2010

no kidding. Droopy Dog never disappoints. Always some kind of dog poop coming out of his mouth.

[Liberal2]

03:51 PM on 07/21/2010

"....That’s a tough one. They frame it in a different way. They just want a breather. And not an eternal pre-emption. These are all topics of negotiation. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing here...."

Absolutely...your right to live must be negotiable, their privilege of high income cannot be.

[A Meat Beetle]

03:06 PM on 07/21/2010

After decades of doing absolutely nothing they need a breather? And they say capitalists aren't lazy!

[Appleton]

02:56 PM on 07/21/2010

If the coal industry wishes a "breather" from enforcement of clean air regulations, they would certainly endorse, in the interests of that same fairness they invoke on their own behalf, an amendment to the Clean Air Act mandating the payment of damages by the industry to the families of individuals who die from exposure to increased pollutants emitted during any period of suspension.