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Stefanik again votes to keep clean air rules

Nevertheless, bill to weaken EPA passes House on mostly partisan lines

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik gestures as she answers a question from a member of the audience during a “Coffee with Your Congresswoman” April 24 at the Shirley J. Luck Senior Citizens Center in Johnstown. (Photo — The Leader-Herald)

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to delay the implementation of Obama-era reductions in smog-causing air pollutants, but North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was one of only two New York Republicans who voted against the legislation.

Stefanik, R-Willsboro, was one of 199 total votes against the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2017, while 229 representatives voted for the legislation. The Senate received it Wednesday and referred it to committee.

The bill’s primary sponsor, Republican Rep. Pete Olson of Texas, has said the bill will help alleviate pressure on job creators as stricter standards approved by former President Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency force American companies to spend billions of dollars on reducing pollution.

The votes in favor and against the bill fell largely on party lines. Of the 229 votes for it, 225 (98 percent) were by Republicans. Of the 199 votes against, 188 (94 percent) came from Democrats. Stefanik was one of only 11 Republicans to vote against the legislation as she and fellow New York Rep. John Faso, R-Kinderhook, were the only two New York Republicans to vote against the bill.

The bill has been derided as the “Smoggy Skies Act” by many Democrats who vehemently oppose the bill. Stefanik voted in June 2016 against a previous version of the legislation, which passed the House but not the Senate.

“Ozone pollution has been linked to adverse effects on the health of forests and wildlife which we, in the North Country, have seen in the Adirondack State Park and other upstate forests,” Stefanik said in a statement last year. “Additionally, ozone pollution has been linked to a variety of adverse health effects that are especially harmful to the elderly, children, and those suffering from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.”

The legislation would further delay, by eight more years, implementation of air pollution standards the EPA issued in 2015. It would also make several changes to the Clean Air Act, including changing the EPA’s mandated review of air quality standards from every five years to every 10.

More than a dozen major health organizations oppose the bill, including the National Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association. Several pro-business groups support the bill, including the American Petroleum Institute, the American Chemistry Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The National Ambient Air Quality Standards, which the EPA adopted in 2015, reduced the allowed amount of ground-level ozone from 75 to 70 parts per billion. The EPA estimated that year that it would cost the economy $1.4 billion to meet the stricter standards, but the agency maintained the benefits of cleaner air would financially save Americans billions of dollars due to fewer emergency room visits and other public health improvements.

Environmental Advocates of New York was part of a coalition of 32 environmental groups that pressured members of Congress to vote against the legislation. In a letter last month addressed to New York’s congressional delegation — one co-signed by the Adirondack Council and Protect the Adirondacks, among others — the coalition wrote that it believed the bill “represents a sweeping attack on the public health underpinnings of the Clean Air Act.

“When it was enacted,” the letter continues, “the Clean Air Act promised healthful air for all to breathe. More than forty five years later, this promise remains unfulfilled. The Clean Air Act is a highly successful public health law that directs the EPA on many air pollution matters, but most importantly it requires the setting of standards for air pollutants. Specifically, it directs EPA to set all health standards based solely on the best available science. This bill systematically weakens EPA’s ability to do that.

“This bill forces (the) EPA to wait a decade before it can consider new science and set new standards to protect public health,” the letter adds. “This jeopardizes progress toward cleaner air and delays health protections for millions of New Yorkers, especially those more susceptible to the effects of pollution — children, older adults, and people with asthma. These health impacts pose significant costs on New York families that we cannot afford to exacerbate by ignoring science and delaying new standards.”

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