Images

1. The Sky is Falling!

For decades, polluting industries have attacked environmental and health protections as too costly, not worthwhile, and a threat to businesses and jobs.

2. Don’t Fall For It

But history shows that these regulations usually cost far less than claimed, and the dollars invested yield strong returns for our health and economy.

3. Example: Stronger Air Regulations

From 1993-2003, stronger regulations to control power plant pollution cost $21 billion, according to the OMB.

Photo: ©Charles Shoffner

4. Example: Stronger Air Regulations

The result? $177 billion in benefits from fewer lost workdays, hospital visits, and premature deaths.

5. Example: Ozone Standards

In 1997, the governor of Georgia said meeting new ozone levels would trigger “enormous economic and jobs consequences” for his state.

Photo: ©Ron Sherman

6. Example: Ozone Standards

Over the next 10 years, Georgia’s economy hardly skipped a beat. In fact, the state’s gross domestic product climbed nearly 58 percent.

7. New Attacks, Same False Arguments

Right now in the new Congress, SELC and our allies on Capitol Hill are battling yet another assault on some of the nation’s most fundamental environmental protections.

Photo: ©Charles Shoffner

8. Protections Under Fire: Mercury

Limits on mercury and other toxic emissions from cement kilns and industrial boilers.

Photo: ©Lynda Richardson

9. Protections Under Fire: Coal Ash

Tougher rules for disposing toxic coal combustion waste—like the billion gallons of coal ash that spilled from a TVA power plant in 2008.

Photo: ©John Wathan

10. Protections Under Fire: MTR

Stream protections that provide one of the few checks on mountaintop removal coal mining.

Photo: ©Bob Llewellyn

11. Protections Under Fire: The Bay

The EPA’s new program to restore the Chesapeake Bay, a resource that contributes $1 trillion to the U.S. economy.

Photo: ©Dwight Dyke

12. Protections Under Fire: Global Warming

Enforcement of existing laws to curb global warming pollution.

13. Don’t Fall For It

SELC is educating members of Congress about the historic gulf between industry claims and the facts. To help, contact your legislator, learn more (PDF), or support this important work.

Previous Next

You can help support this important work.

Donate Today

Anti-Environment Attacks in Congress

Defending clean air and water laws against anti-environmental attacks

Case Summary

Under the guise of fiscal responsibility, anti-environmental forces are working in Congress to gut many of the nation's essential safeguards that for decades have helped protect our environment and health.

Big polluters and their allies routinely claim that strengthening environment protections will cost too much, produce too few benefits, and send workers to the breadlines. At a time when many American families are indeed hurting financially, such false claims inflame the public discourse and threaten to reverse years of progress.

Don't Fall For It

The truth is, environmental regulation had nothing to do with getting us into the current financial crisis. In fact, history shows that laws such as the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act typically cost far less than claimed and often spur technological innovation, job creation, and economic growth. Check out SELC's fact sheet to see the gulf between dire industry predictions and what actually occurs.

Clean Air Act: Decades of Benefits

For example, in 2003, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget calculated that stronger air quality regulations-currently under harsh attack on Capitol Hill-cost up to $21 billion in power plant improvements, but yielded as much as $177 billion in benefits from fewer lost workdays, hospital visits, and premature deaths.

Now, a 2011 report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows that pollution controls under the same law will yield approximately $2 trillion in benefits in 2020 and will save 230,000 people from early death in that year alone.

SELC Defending the South's Environment

SELC is providing the leadership and the law and policy expertise needed for an effective response. In Washington, D.C., we are serving as a strong voice for the South in Congress, with the message that sound fiscal policy and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive.

In all of our six states-with regard both to broader policies and to on-the-ground projects-we are arguing that investing in healthy air, clean water, smart growth, and clean energy can create jobs and save money-and lives-in the long term.

Some of the specific issues we are focused on include: offshore oil drilling, biomass as an energy source, natural gas "fracking," coal ash disposal, sound transportation planning, national forest "roadless" areas, and proposed new wilderness lands for Tennessee.