Senator
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

RE: Protect the Clean Air Act!

Dear Senator ,

All Americans should be protected from breathing polluted air. I strongly urge you to oppose S. 131, the so-called "Clear Skies" initiative, because this legislation would dramatically undermine and weaken public health and environmental protections under the Clean Air Act. Instead, the Clean Air Act should be enforced, requiring smokestack industries to use cleaner technology and improving the health of all Americans.

More than 159 million Americans live in areas with unhealthy air. Air pollution causes a range of adverse health effects including triggering asthma attacks. Children and seniors are especially at risk. The Clean Air Act sets firm deadlines and has powerful tools to clean the air. Enforcement of the current Clean Air Act will reduce air pollution, hold polluters accountable and provide air that is healthy for all Americans.

S. 131, on the other hand, would delay deadlines to meet the health standards in the Clean Air Act while relaxing pollution reduction requirements for power plants and other major pollution sources. Pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury would increase to dangerous levels under the plan, resulting in more harmful air for those most at risk -- the elderly, children, pregnant women, and people with asthma. The important New Source Review program would be gutted, allowing oil refineries, chemical plants, power plants, factories and other industries to escape upgrading to modern pollution controls. And critical state authority to protect air quality would be repealed, as would protections for our national parks.

Also, under S. 131, global warming would worsen. Power plants are the greatest source of carbon dioxide emissions, responsible for 40 percent of CO2 emissions in the United States. The "Clear Skies" plan allows CO2 pollution to continue to increase and relies on ineffective voluntary approaches to reduce carbon pollution.

I urge you to take a stand for the health and well-being of every American and for our future by opposing S. 131, by doing everything in your power to ensure that it is defeated, and by working to uphold and strengthen the Clean Air Act.