The Republicans in the House of Representatives have taken much of their anti-environment wishlist and stuffed it into one literally breath-taking bill. The “TRAIN” act that comes to a vote tomorrow will block recent clean air initiatives and also gut the 40-year-old Clean Air Act.

The bill started out as the “Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation” (and so became the only TRAIN that Republicans love… elsewhere they slash funds for rail and other public transit projects). But it quickly moved from mere regulatory oversight to a massive attack on the Environmental Protection Agency.

One amendment by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) would permanently block two new regulations:

The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that would cut back on air pollution across state lines – estimated to save 34,000 lives a year.

The Mercury and Air Toxics standards that would curtail power plants emissions of extremely toxic pollutants – estimated to save 17,000 lives a year.

Whitfield, who is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power, said he’s “especially concerned about what impact these rules will have on the coal producers in my state and the jobs tied to the industry that plays such a vital role in meeting our energy demands, as well as the impact on electricity consumers.”

Of course, any savings for consumers would be counterbalanced by the money they pay when their kids get asthma or other illnesses. But that’s not our main concern, is it? What are a few thousand sick children, or a few thousand granparents who die prematurely of pollution-induced heart attacks and strokes – compared to a healthy bottom line of our beloved coal companies?

Another new twist, courtesy of Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) would warp the way the EPA sets standards. Here’s a good breakdown from McClatchy:

Under the 1970 Clean Air Act, the EPA sets standards for major air pollutants based only on what’s necessary to protect public health with an “adequate margin of safety.” Once the level of unhealthy air is set, the agency takes cost into account in determining what methods industries can use and how long they’ll have to reduce the pollution. [Latta’s] amendment would require the EPA to consider feasibility and cost when setting the amount of pollution in the air that’s acceptable. This change would negate a unanimous 2001 Supreme Court ruling that the Clean Air Act doesn’t allow the EPA to take costs into account when it’s setting air standards.

As Susan Kraemer notes at Cleantechnica,

The bill is redundant. The EPA already quantifies the estimated costs and benefits of its rulings. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) also normally scores each bill it is asked to, before a vote, also providing estimated costs to industry and benefits to the public. But congressional Republicans have become increasingly unhappy with the results. They believe that a new multi-agency committee will come up with results more to their liking.

John Walke of the Natural Resources Defense Council calls the TRAIN act “The worst air pollution bill ever to reach the House floor.” And President Obama has threatened to veto the measure… but he may balk at that, with the kind of hardball the Republicans have been playing – such as attaching nasty anti-environment or anti-labor riders onto essential spending bills.

“As the President has made clear, the administration will continue to take steps to defend the authority of the Clean Air Act, and the important progress we have made to protect the air we breathe,” said a White House statement. “These are smart standards that will save thousands of lives a year, and leverage technologies already successfully deployed in plants across the country.”

But this comes on the heels of the Obama administration’s decision to unilaterally cave on new ozone rules, a huge disappointment as the government was already years behind schedule in cleaning up that mess. (See: President Obama’s Decision on Ozone: Bad Policy and Bad Politics.)

Here’s what the NRDC’s Heather Miesels said about the ozone decision, which applies equally here:

Why the White House is running away from this story is beyond me. This shouldn’t be about the economy because these safeguards will create jobs. And this retreat certainly isn’t going to get him any votes. In a June poll of likely voters commissioned by the American Lung Association found that 75 percent supported the EPA’s effort to set stronger smog standards and 66 percent believed that EPA scientists– not Congress — should establish clean air standards. …Color me confused.

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What else you can do:

Write to your Congressional Representative, or call, and tell them NOT to vote for the TRAIN act. (202) 224-3121

Write President Obama and tell him he needs to stay strong on the environment – and VETO the TRAIN act if it reaches his desk.

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