[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 150 (Friday, October 7, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1807]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   EPA REGULATORY RELIEF ACT OF 2011

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                               speech of

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 6, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2250) to 
     provide additional time for the Administrator of the 
     Environmental Protection Agency to issue achievable standards 
     for industrial, commercial, and institutional boilers, 
     process heaters, and incinerators, and for other purposes:

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Chair, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 were 
supported by large bipartisan majorities in both chambers of Congress. 
Section 112 of that legislation set forth a data-driven process for 
emissions reductions across more than 100 source categories--an 
approach that has proven to be an enormous success, reducing 
carcinogens and other air toxics by 1.7 million tons a year without 
hindering economic growth.
  Inexplicably, today's legislation flies in the face of this 
bipartisan achievement. By attempting to first block and then delay 
EPA's ability to curtail toxic emissions from large industrial boilers 
and incinerators, H.R. 2250 effectively rewrites Section 112 of the 
Clean Air Act to prioritize pollution over public health. If permitted 
to take effect, the mandated three year delay in this bill would cause 
an estimated 20,000 premature deaths, 126,000 asthma attacks, 12,000 
heart attacks and 960,000 days of missed work due to mercury, lead, 
arsenic and other toxic exposure. This is just completely unacceptable.
  Mr. Speaker, public health is not a problem. It's a priority. Outside 
the far right wing of the Republican party, America's broad bipartisan 
mainstream supports the Clean Air Act and, as a basic expectation of 
government, wants us to protect their right to healthy air.
  We should listen.

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