Once the debt ceiling debate is settled, Congress is going to have to re-focus on the budget that almost shut down the government a few months ago. As part of that process, members of Congress have attached various provisions to the appropriations bills. One bill includes policy riders that deal with longstanding environmental rules–things like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. It’s called the 2012 Interior and Environmental Appropriations bill and as currently written, it would scale back or reverse decades of environmental protections, including:

Removing Clean Air Act protections

One rider on the

bill would nix the EPA’s funding to enforce the Clean Air Act’s upcoming

Mercury and Air Toxics standards for power plants, which are intended

to cut soot and smog pollution. The same rider would stop the EPA from

enacting the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (aka the “good neighbor

policy”), which limits power plant pollution that drifts into other

states.

Most of the regulations being targeted are Clean Air Act

rules put on the books in 1990 (signed by the first President Bush). “These are things people have been aware

of,” says Tony Kreindler, director of strategic

communications at the Environmental Defense Fund. “Most companies out

there that are affected have been preparing for a long time.” But

Kreindler explains that some companies–such as American Electric

Power–have been bitterly fighting the rules, saying they haven’t had

enough time to prepare, “while all along everyone else has known somehow

that the day has been coming for 20 years.”

If funding for the

Mercury and Air Toxics rule is upheld, Kreindler estimates that it could

prevent 17,000 premature deaths. Another 17,000 could be saved by the

good neighbor policy. So if these policies are not upheld, well, do the

math.

Restoring $55 million in oil and gas subsidies