Broad coalition fighting to save Clean Air Act
The Clean Air Act — the key federal tool that can cut the pollution that causes global warming — is under attack.
The 112th Congress is packed with new climate-science-denying Republicans. On their list of top priorities is attacking the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act in order to give big polluters a free pass.
The Clean Air Act is the best tool we have to curb global warming and it has a proven track record of protecting the environment and public health that spans more than four decades.
Friends of the Earth is fighting back to protect the Clean Air Act — and you can take action and join us!
Take Action to Protect the Clean Air Act
You can take action to save the Clean Air Act. If you haven’t yet, click here to send your senators a message asking them to fight against any rollbacks to this key environmental law.
Check out our activist toolkit for more resources and ways you can work to save the Clean Air Act.
Why the Clean Air Act is a critical tool to protect
Effectiveness of the Clean Air Act
The history of the Clean Air Act has demonstrated its value in reducing air pollution and improving health and welfare in cost-effective ways. Its programs have reduced a wide variety of air pollutants — from nitrous oxides to volative organic compounds, from sulphur to pollutants causing the ozone hole — and have done so across a wide variety of sources, from stationary sources like power plant, factories and smokestacks, to non-stationary sources like motor vehicles.
The Clean Air Act’s regulations have also resulted in the development of cutting-edge pollution control technologies such as sulfur dioxide scrubbers and catalytic converters as industry responded creatively to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) mandate to ensure clean air.
The Clean Air Act can jump start solutions to global warming
Blocking the Obama administration from using the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas pollution would have a number of negative implications. We are still a frustratingly long way from achieving strong climate and clean energy legislation in Congress and we can’t afford to wait any longer to reduce climate disrupting emissions. The Clean Air Act is the most powerful federal tool available right now to make headway on curbing climate change.
The Clean Air Act provides a comprehensive system for pollution control that can be used to put quick and relatively cheap early action measures in place to reduce dangerous global warming pollution and spur investments in clean technology. The certainty of regulation associated with the Clean Air Act has been a significant technology driver in the past. By using it to jump start cuts in greenhouse gas pollution from sources like vehicles and big emitters like power plants and factories, we can drive industry innovations in clean technology solutions.
The Clean Air Act could also serve as an important safety valve to ensure that our national policy responses to global warming keep up with the latest scientific evidence on the degree and speed of emissions reductions needed to keep the climate stable — and protect the health of people and our economy.