Senate supports EPA

Posted on 04/07/2011 @ 12:30 PM

Tags: Government, Environment, epa

Yesterday, the Senate voted on four anti-EPA amendments, none of which received the required 60 votes. The four amendments to the Small Business Bill (S. 493) would have stripped the EPA of the authority to regulate greenhouse gasses. All 100 Senators voted on all four amendments, indicating the importance of the issue. Three of the four amendments were defeated by wide margins, while one amendment was split down the middle 50-50.

It was expected to be a very close vote and it was. Nonetheless it is a significant victory for the EPA and everyone who is concerned about greenhouse gas emissions, and public health. To everyone who emailed, called or wrote to your Senator, thank you. You made a difference.

While this victory should be celebrated this will not be the last effort to strip the EPA of authority or to undermine the Clean Air Act. We need to make sure that representatives in Congress continue to hear the voices of citizens who value the EPA and the Clean Air Act.

This is a step in the right direction towards a cleaner and safer planet.

Click the links below to see a summary of the votes:

Less Regulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Amendment by Senator Max Baucus [MT], failed 7-93)

Suspend EPA Enforcement of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Amendment by Senator Debbie Stabenow [MI], failed 7-93)

Suspend EPA Enforcement for Carbon Dioxide, Methane (Amendment by Senator Jay Rockefeller [WV], failed 12-88)

Prohibit EPA from Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Amendment by Senator James Inhofe [OK], failed 50-50)