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Virginia Conservation Network, the Virginia Council of Trout Unlimited and the Wildlife Foundation of Virginia are among 300 hunting, fishing and wildlife groups opposing efforts to weaken the Clean Air Act. The groups released a letter calling on Congress to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to hold polluters accountable and back off attacks on the Clean Air Act.
Citing the law's bipartisan origins, the signers said that the act "has a long history of success in reducing pollution such as acid rain and smog that threatens fish and wildlife and their habitats." But today, as the EPA strives to reduce airborne toxins that cause mercury contamination and limit carbon pollution, the Clean Air Act faces new threats in congress and the courts.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli joined a lawsuit filed on Friday by his counterpart in Texas that seeks to block EPA's new limits on tailpipe emissions. This latest lawsuit comes on the heels of a Cuccinelli appeal that seeks to have EPA reconsider its finding that global warming poses a danger to health and well-being.
Attacks on the Clean Air Act threaten some of America's most critical health and environmental protections. More than 155 million Americans live in areas like Northern Virginia that fail to meet clean air standards. A warming climate will only magnify the effects of air pollution on children with asthma and older adults with heart and lung conditions.
The Clean Air Act requires EPA to issue air quality standards for pollutants that harm human health and the environment, by limiting pollutants from industrial facilities, power plants and vehicle tailpipes. Recently, several U.S. senators and representatives have introduced bills to handcuff, block, or delay EPA's efforts to reduce carbon, mercury, and toxic air pollution.
"The Clean Air Act has been an incredibly useful tool for protecting trout and salmon habitat across the country," said Steve Moyer, vice president of Trout Unlimited. "The 1990 Clean Air Act amendments cut substantially deposition of acid rain that was destroying brook trout habitat along the length of the Appalachian Mountains, at a fraction of the anticipated costs to Americans. We believe the Clean Air Act can be used in the same fashion to limit greenhouse gas emissions, as well as continue to help on the long standing fight against acid rain."
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