Henry Waxman: 'The Most Anti-Environment House In History'

WASHINGTON -- During the 112th Congress, the Republican House majority has taken aim at issues ranging from labor protections to women's right to choose. But it may be the environment that’s hardest hit by Republican efforts to reshape the federal government.

Since the beginning of the current Congress in January, the House of Representatives has passed 125 bills that undermine environmental protection. Taken together, these votes make this "the most anti-environment House in history," according to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The list of bills, compiled by Democratic staffers on the committee, includes legislation limiting the regulatory authority of the Environmental Protection Agency by prohibiting it from regulating carbon emissions from power plants, votes to defund enforcement of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and efforts to target federal agencies such as the Department of Interior and the Department of Energy.

On Monday, Waxman unveiled an online searchable database, which breaks down anti-environment votes taken by the 112th Congress into categories: clean energy, climate change, nuclear power, pipeline safety, pollution prevention, and public lands and coasts.

"The House has voted to block action to address climate change, to stop actions to prevent air and water pollution, to undermine protections for public lands and coastal areas, and to weaken the protection of the environment in dozens of other ways," said Waxman in a statement.

Environmental groups see the votes as directing attention away from the disastrous economy.

"House Republicans are showing how far they will go to please big polluters," said a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). "Instead of focusing on jobs and the economy, they are busy stopping all rules to clean up the air and save lives."

Frances Beinecke, president of the NRDC, said Congress this year has gone further in pushing anti-environment legislation than even the Congress led by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1995.

"At the time, 17 policy riders that went after the EPA were proposed," Beinecke said in a blog post. "This year close to 40 have been proposed going after smog standards, wildlife protections, and clean water."

In addition to these votes, the House before the August recess stalled the Interior Department and environment appropriations bills over a number of anti-environment riders, which the Sierra Club called "the worst single attack on our nation’s air, water, wildlife and land to date."

The legislative efforts have been mostly partisan in nature: On the bills compiled in Waxman's database, 97 percent of Republican votes were cast for the anti-environment position while 84 percent of Democratic votes were cast for the pro-environment position, according to a July press release sent out by the Democratic staffs of the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Comments

[Jay from Ottawa]

02:32 PM on 09/16/2011

Who needs a livable planet when we can all live in underground bunkers !

Trees, grass, wind, clouds, lakes, all those things are nothing more than distractions from worker productivity, time to get rid of them.

... and people wonder why I so desperatly want to move out of North America :S

[Forrester1]

08:46 AM on 09/16/2011

Big business and manufacturers are the only ones with a financial incentive to destroy the environment. Who else would want to do this? They want no regulations in what they do, which we know from historical experience can only lead to disaster.

I expect this House to pass a bill any day now to rename this country The United States of America, Inc.

[WheneverPigsFly]

07:42 AM on 09/16/2011

The GOP get to help their Corporate Masters and The Tea Baggers get to move us closer to the End Times [they think they will not be affected by the "hell fires on earth"]. Certainly a marriage made in Heaven, the crazy philosophy of Ayn Rand couple with apocalyptic Christianity. As Monty Python says, "No One Expects the Spainish Inquisition...

[bmike]

05:24 AM on 09/16/2011

Republicans say we need more toxins in the air. That way all Americans will think like Republicans and not have to worry about democrats that want to put health before money.

[Scarlet Jinn]

02:58 AM on 09/16/2011

Don't you sometimes wonder how these people managed to become adults without being exposed to science? Answer: home schooling and then "colleges" like Jerry Falwell or Patrick Henry. These people seem like a joke, until you realize how dedicated they are, how long they've been building the movement, and their large numbers.

Then you realize they're not just a punch line on the "Daily Show". The same type of people who cheered Perry's executions and were overjoyed at the idea of letting people without insurance die, have been working to - in their own words - take over our government.

A quote from "My Life as a Daughter in the Christian Patriarchy Movement -- How I Was Taught to Obey Men, Birth 8 Kids and Do Battle Against Secular America" by Libby Anne, ex Quiverfull woman:

"We were raised to fight the ENEMY, be that Satan or the ENVIRONMENTALISTS, SOCIALISTS,and FEMINISTS, to come against them in spiritual warfare and at the polls. This is why Michael Farris, a proponent of Christian Patriarchy and the leader of the Home School Legal Defense Association, founded Patrick Henry College in 2000 to TRAIN HOMESCHOOLED YOUTH IN THE LAW AND GOVERNMENT.There were MORE INTERNS FROM PATRICK HENRY COLLEGE IN THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE THAN FROM ANY OTHER COLLEGE. Put simply, THEIR GOAL IS TO TAKE OVER THE COUNTRY instituting godly laws ruling according to Christ’s dictates." (emphasis mine)

[Jay from Ottawa]

02:39 PM on 09/16/2011

I'm so sorry for you guys (educated americans who have to deal with cr@p like this), I can't believe you guys have to put up with stuff like that, but considering this nonsense seems to hold many americans by the roots, might I suggest a solution ?

Split america in two. Red America and Blue America. It's a start.

[The Late Benny Hill]

12:39 AM on 09/16/2011

The more I hear things like this the more I think "They Live" was a documentary.

[raneripwr]

11:41 PM on 09/15/2011

ALL THOSE FELL GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS DO NOTHING ANYWAY.WE SAVE CANS AND CHINA, INDIA, DUMP TONS OF WASTE INTO THE AIR.IT'S ALL LIBERAL B.S.

[danneb1024]

11:57 PM on 09/15/2011

you have to yell those ignorant comments?

[The Late Benny Hill]

12:40 AM on 09/16/2011

Cut him some slack - he hasn't figured out the 'caps lock' key yet. This is what happens to people when they live next to polluters.

[Forrester1]

08:50 AM on 09/16/2011

Really?
How many brown outs are we having this summer compared, say, to 1972?
How many rivers are still considered too polluted for human activity?
How much acid rain is falling in the Northeast?
How many dead floating fish are we seeing in our lakes and rivers?

Grow up and learn from history

[NER2]

11:30 PM on 09/15/2011

When I was a child, I spoke and reasoned as a child, and I realized even then that there is a direct correlation between the health of the environment (something evidently abhorrent to Republicans) and the economy (we all know the degree to which money is beloved by Republicans). It's very simple: no economy can thrive for long in a poisoned ecosystem. Apparently, House Republicans haven't come to this realization yet. That doesn't make them childish. It merely shows they are stupid.

[lindaj3884]

11:29 PM on 09/15/2011

This is the most anti anything rational House in history. Mr Boehner where are the jobs?

[corsair807]

06:55 AM on 09/16/2011

MR .OBAMA WHERE ARE THE LOBS ???????????????

[corsair807]

06:59 AM on 09/16/2011

CORRECTION: SHOULD SAY , JOBS ??????????????

[intolleft]

07:53 AM on 09/16/2011

That's a three letter word: J--O--B--S.

[nothingchanges]

11:20 PM on 09/15/2011

Politicians (especially Republican ones), for the most part, can afford to be against environmental regulations.

Why should THEY care what comes out of the smoke stacks of heavy industry? THEY don't breathe it..... It's not in THEIR backyard.

Maybe that's the problem.

It's just too easy to pass laws that destroy the health and life enjoyment of millions, as long as it's "those people"........ nobody you know (or care about).

As long as it doesn't effect them personally, or financially.

Which would go a long way in explaining why Republicans are also against health care reform.

They KNOW what destroying the EPA will do, and they don't want to have to pay for it.

[Linda Orr]

10:16 PM on 09/15/2011

If in fact the GOP denies proven scientific evidence, why do those of us in the middle class feel like LAB RATS?

[OGigi]

09:43 PM on 09/15/2011

And it makes their health insurance buddies and pharmceutical buddies richer.
Always maddness to their methods

[janereally]

08:20 AM on 09/16/2011

yes GE both pours toxins into the environment, and makes the cancer screening machines. that's why we should "find the cause" not "find the cure" except that GE, DuPont etc all also fund the "find a cure" promotions. Convenient to the corporate bottom line.

[ljimlong]

09:21 PM on 09/15/2011

Well, i guess, cough, cough, we can all breath easier, cough, cough now Advair please.

[canoeboundaryh20]

08:28 PM on 09/15/2011

GOP/TP greed trumps environment. Planet Earth loses. Film at eleven.

[majorillnesses]

08:24 PM on 09/15/2011

These corporate shills that call themselves the GOP are attempting to eviscerate the public commons, the land, air, and water that we all NEED in order to continue as living, breathing entities. This should NOT be a political issue---this is an affront to each and every citizen in the US. To the conservatives that support this legislation and the dismantling of the EPA, I suggest you go spend some time in the industrial cities in China and see how you like waking up with a blanket of smog over your house and tainted drinking water running through your body.

[janereally]

08:21 AM on 09/16/2011

what's wrong with China? Plenty of job creators over there!