Environmental Defense Campaign

Stop The Rollback Of Our Environmental Protections
Just months into the new Congress and the new administration, powerful polluters are making headway on their schemes to roll back environmental protections, including protections for:

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
National Forests & Other Public Lands
Clean Air
Safe Drinking Water

The state PIRGs are working to expose their schemes, counter the political pressure, and make the case for putting our environment ahead of narrow special interests.

Take Action

Hard Won Victories | A Turn For The Worse | Stop The Rollback
1
Hard Won Victories

30 Years Of Environmental Protections
In the 1960’s and 70’s our air was dirtier than ever, and some rivers were so polluted they actually caught fire. In response, Congress passed our nation’s core environmental laws.

Since then, we have won new protections for public health and our natural heritage.

• Oil and gas companies are not allowed to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
• Timber companies cannot clearcut 60 million acres of wild national forests.
• Power plants must reduce smog, soot, and deadly toxic pollution.
• Drinking water utilities must reduce the amount of arsenic in water supplies.

"We'll push ahead to develop... the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."

- White House Press Spokesperson, Ari Fleischer
A Turn For The Worse

The Attacks On Our Environmental Laws
Unfortunately, the oil, timber, coal and mining industries, and others who stand to gain from weakening our environmental protections, are attacking these laws. To gain influence and access to Congress and the President, they have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to political campaigns over the last 30 years, including more than $47 million in the last election alone.

Last fall, it wasn’t clear if the new Congress and administration would continue to improve our environmental and public health laws. In his campaign, President Bush came out in support of regulations on pollution from power plants, including the pollution that causes global warming. However, the administration's record on the environment thus far makes it clear that President Bush is looking out for the polluting and extractive industries at the expense of the public interest.

Among other rollbacks, President Bush reversed a campaign pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The EPA announced plans to block a rule to reduce the acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water, even though arsenic can cause cancer and other health threats.

President Bush is considering opening 58.5 million acres of pristine wilderness in our national forests to logging, mining and oil drilling. The administration has also proposed a dirty and dangerous energy plan that would open public lands like the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas drilling and give billions in taxpayer subsidies to nuclear, coal and oil industries.

Fortunately, Congress has voted to block some of the administration’s proposed rollbacks. The House passed amendments to protect national monuments, Florida’s coast, and the Great Lakes from oil and gas drilling.

The Senate also passed amendments to protect the Great Lakes and national monuments from drilling. Both the House and the Senate passed amendments that call on the administration to immediately increase protections for arsenic in drinking water.

Unfortunately, a dirty and dangerous energy bill that calls for drilling in the Arctic Refuge and contains billions in subsidies to polluters just passed in the House. Thus, it is even more critical that the Senate prevent drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

Stop The Rollback Of Our Environmental Protections
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is now off-limits to oil and gas drilling. The area is home to spectacular wildlife like caribou, musk oxen, bear and wolves and is sacred to the Gwich’in people. Unfortunately, oil companies led by BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Phillips, along with their allies in Congress and President Bush, want to drill in the Refuge.

We must reduce our dependence on oil and other energy sources that pollute our environment and invest in energy conservation, energy efficiency and clean, renewable power. How you can help.
Public Lands Protection

A new Forest Service policy protects 58.5 million acres of national forests, and other important public lands have recently been protected as national monuments. Our public lands provide habitat for endangered species, clean drinking water, and endless opportunities for recreation. Unfortunately, the timber and oil industries and their allies in Congress and the Bush administration are working to overturn protections for national forests and monuments.

We must treat our nation’s forests and other public lands as a natural heritage to be passed to future generations, not auctioned off for private plunder. What you can do.

Clean Air Protection
New national health standards for smog and soot will save 15,000 lives each year. To meet the new standards, the EPA adopted new emissions rules for power plants and automobiles. Unfortunately, the auto, coal and oil industries are already working to roll back these important clean air protections. For example, the administration is considering repealing key enforcement rules of the Clean Air Act known as the New Source Review (NSR), which force old facilities to meet modern pollution standards. Repealing these enforcement rules could result in the continued emissions of hundreds of thousands of tons of pollution each year.

We have a right to clean air, and we should push industries to develop cleaner technologies that reduce or eliminate air pollution. How you can help.

Safe Drinking Water
A new arsenic rule strengthens protections to permit just one-fifth of the current allowable level of arsenic in drinking water. This rule is critical because arsenic causes cancer of the lungs, bladder and skin. Unfortunately, the Bush administration proposed to withdraw this protection because of costs to the mining industry and other polluters. However Congress has voted to prevent the administration from weakening the new standard, so we must ensure that it is implemented immediately. We must ensure that America’s drinking water is safe, clean and reliable. More.

  

Protecting Public Lands From Mining
Mining is the largest waste producing industry in the country. Pollution from mining has contaminated 40 percent of the headwaters in the western U.S. Today's massive mines contaminate surface and groundwater with cyanide, arsenic and other toxins. New mines are being proposed immediately adjacent to people's homes, underneath wilderness areas, at the headwaters of critical fish habitats, in fragile desert ecosystems, and amidst the wild lands that provide a home to our few remaining grizzly bears.

In March of this year, one of the first things that Interior Secretary Norton did after being appointed was to call for public comments on her plan to roll back the 3,809 regs and replace them with an old, outdated set of rules.

To send a comment to protect the safeguards against mining, click here.

What You Can Do:

We must stop the rollback of our environmental laws. At the onset of a new Congress and a new administration, citizens must make it clear that we oppose rollbacks of our environmental and public health protections.

You can help. Write your senators and representatives today and urge them to protect public health and the environment by stopping these rollbacks.