  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2011
Contact: Kristina Johnson (San Francisco): (415) 977-5619
Alex
Wall (Washington, D.C.): (202)548-4595
Rick Perry’s Energy Plan: Wheeze, Baby Wheeze
Plan Would Poison Water and Air; Ratchet Up Rates of Asthma, Heart
Disease, Birth Defects
Pittsburgh –
Today, Texas Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry unveiled
his energy plan for America. The plan, if implemented, will poison our air and
water with toxic pollutants like soot, smog, arsenic, cadmium, dioxin, lead,
and formaldehyde. It would also undercut safeguards from mercury, which is a
neurotoxin and is known to harm developing fetuses.
“Rick Perry’s energy plan reads like a roadmap for making
America’s kids sick,” said Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune. “Under
this plan, we can expect to see much higher rates of asthma among children, and
risk to pregnant women from mercury exposure. Republicans like Perry are
putting polluters’ profits first and our kids’ health last. The Republican
mantra should be ‘wheeze, baby, wheeze.”
Perry’s plan calls for scaling back basic EPA safeguards
that protect our clean air and water. It would simultaneously expand development
of dirty energy like coal, oil, and natural gas amounting to a one-two punch to
Americans’ health.
“American families
have enough to worry about,” Brune said. “They don’t need to spend more time
taking their kids to the doctor or more money on hospital bills. The only
people who stand to profit from this plan are overpaid oil, coal and natural
gas CEOs.”
“Dismantling the EPA and assuming that states are properly
watching over natural gas drilling is dangerous and puts the health of our
families and communities at risk.”
Perry’s plan would also undercut the expansion of jobs in
industries like solar—the fastest-growing industry in the energy sector.
“There’s a solution to the current epidemic of pollution-related
illness that will also create good, lasting local jobs, and secure America’s
energy independence,” said Brune. “It’s clean energy. America’s clean energy
industry is strong and thriving, even in this down economy. Rick Perry’s plan
would stifle that growth and return our country to a dirty, antiquated energy
system. Under his plan, we’ll see asthma rates among American kids soar, while
countries like China surpass us in reaping the benefits from clean energy like
solar and wind."
In fact, America is predicted to become the world’s leader
in solar energy by 2014, and in 2010, the U.S. was a net exporter of solar by $2 billion. Solar
energy creates seven times more jobs
than coal, nuclear and natural gas.
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