Some steal with a sword, some with a pen, the saying goes.
And some steal the rights of Americans to breathe clean air, and are willing to allow thousands to die and hundreds of thousands to get sick, in order to protect the powerful utility industry from having to cut its deadly toxic pollution.
At least thirty US Senators were known to have put their signatures on a petition to force the US Senate to debate and vote on Senator James Inhofe’s proposal to repeal the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standard.
The EPA estimates that the standard will save as many as 11,000 lives and prevent as many as 130,000 heart attacks every year once implemented. But as far as 35 US Senators are concerned – and Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, we’ve learned – preventing those health consequences just isn’t worth the effort.
That puts them – and any Senators voting to repeal the health standard – way out of step with the majority of Americans, according to a bi-partisan poll sponsored by the American Lung Association which found in March that 78% of likely voters support the stronger standards.
NRDC and NRDC Action Fund repeatedly asked Senator Inhofe to reveal the “Dirty Thirty” but the Senator refused those requests. Only yesterday, as the deadly debate got underway on the Senate floor, did the list become public-only with 35 names on it.
Who are these Dirty Thirty and Filthy Five? Our best interpretation of the signatures on the petition produces the following list (any who are mistakenly listed, please let us know):
- John Boozman (AR)
- David Vitter (LA)
- John Cornyn (TX)
- Jon Kyl (AZ)
- Pat Roberts (KS)
- Jim Inhofe (OK)
- Tom Coburn (OK)
- John McCain (AZ)
- Pat Toomey (PA)
- John Thune (SD)
- John Barrasso (WY)
- Thad Cochran (MS)
- Jim DeMint (SC)
- Roy Blunt (MO)
- Richard Burr (NC)
- Rand Paul (KY)
- Jerry Moran (KS)
- Rob Portman (OH)
- Michael Enzi (WY)
- Lisa Murkowski (AK)
- Daniel Coats (IN)
- Saxby Chambliss (GA)
- Roger Wicker (MS)
- Orrin Hatch (UT)
- Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)
- Jeff Sessions (AL)
- Mitch McConnell (KY)
- Ron Johnson (WI)
- Mike Johanns (NE)
- James Risch (ID)
- John Hoeven (ND)
- Richard Shelby (AL)
While we are quite sure that the signatures on the petition are from the Senators listed above, it isn’t quite as clear for those below. We are attempting to confirm this list with the Senate. If any of the following Senators are not signatories to the Inhofe petition, please let us know and we will correct the list.
33. Mike Lee (UT)
34. Johnny Isakson (GA)
35. Mike Crapo (ID)
The constituents these members represent should be furious at the betrayal of their health in favor of corporate polluters.
UPDATE: In a welcomed show of bi-partisan support for clean air, the US Senate just voted against Senator Inhofe’s proposal to repeal the Mercury and Air Toxics standard. We’ll have more posts on the vote shortly.
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