  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23, 2011
Contact:
Maggie Kao, 919-360-0308
U.S.
House Pushes Deadly, Pro-Polluter Agenda
Approval of TRAIN Act will mean More Toxic Mercury
and Dirty Air
Washington, DC -- The U.S. House of Representatives today voted in favor of
legislation that exposes women and children to toxic mercury pollution and will
make breathing more difficult for millions of Americans. The so-called TRAIN
Act, H.R. 2401, is the most dangerous attack on clean air since the law was
enacted by President Nixon 40 years ago.
In response, Sierra
Club Executive Director Michael Brune issued the following statement:
"The U.S. House Leadership’s
continued, all-out assault on essential clean air protections demonstrates a
complete and reckless disregard for Americans' well-being and the things we
care most about – our health, our families’ health and air that’s safe to
breathe.
“House Leadership claims that the costs of basic pollution protections,
protections that Americans have relied on for 40 years, are too high. But their passage today of the so-called
TRAIN Act will cost 34,000 lives. That’s
34,000 people – fathers, mothers, neighbors, friends and children – who could
be saved by protections against dangerous pollution and who the majority of the
U.S. House has identified as collateral damage for their pro-polluter agenda. In
addition to these initial, unnecessary deaths, the
TRAIN Act will result in 25,000 more lives lost each year that it delays
critical protections against pollution.
“Sacrificing tens of thousands of American lives will not
create more jobs. Allowing corporations to dump toxic pollution into the air
our children and our families breathe will not help the economy recover. Burdening the American people with billions
of dollars in health bills will not lead to economic growth.
“A healthy economy begins with
healthy people. The Sierra Club thanks
President Obama for his vow to veto this bill and we urge the Senate to reject the
House’s reckless attack on American values and clean air.”
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