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Gutting the Clean Air Act by removing EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases -- particularly from huge sources such as coal-fired power plants -- moves us in precisely the wrong direction on global warming.

In its first two decades alone, the Act provided benefits 42 times greater than the estimated costs of regulation, including decreased healthcare costs and reduced lost work time worth $22.2 trillion.

And, the Clean Air Act already provides many of the necessary tools to reduce greenhouse pollutants. Under the Act, new coal-fired power plants must be built, if at all, with meaningful greenhouse emissions-reduction requirements.

Rather than preventing the EPA from fulfilling its duties under the Act, we should be moving swiftly to use the Act to curb global warming, before it's too late.

Please take one minute today to send a letter to your Senator letting them know we need to curb global warming, we need the Clean Air Act to do so, and we need to oppose all moves to gut the Act

Chuck Grassley Phone:(202) 224-3744 Fax:(202) 224-6020 Tom Harkin Phone:(202) 224-3254 Fax:(202) 224-9369

Sample Letter: Please oppose Senator Murkowski's amendment to exempt greenhouse gases from the Clean Air Act, as well as any other move to roll back the Clean Air Act

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski is considering introducing a rider to Interior appropriations to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases from stationary sources such as coal-fired power plants. The EPA's duty to regulate such gases comes from one of our most successful environmental laws: the Clean Air Act. Now more than ever, we need every tool in the tool box to curb global warming -- particularly the Clean Air Act because the Clean Air Act works.

The Clean Air Act has protected the air we breathe for four decades and is our strongest existing tool for reducing greenhouse pollution.

The Act is directly responsible for saving lives, improving health, and decreasing hospitalizations and lost school and work days. According to the EPA, in 2010, the Clean Air Act will save 23,000 lives and prevent 1.7 million asthma attacks, 4.1 million lost work days, and more than 68,000 hospitalizations and emergency room visits.

The Clean Air Act saves money and protects our economy. In its first two decades alone, the Act provided benefits 42 times greater than the estimated costs of regulation, including decreased healthcare costs and reduced lost work time worth $22.2 trillion.

Finally, the Clean Air Act already provides many of the necessary tools to reduce greenhouse pollutants and, if implemented by the EPA as required by existing law, will produce similar benefits.

I urge you to oppose Senator Murkowski's amendment and any other moves to exempt greenhouse gases from the Clean Air Act. We can’t afford to lose the vital protections the Act provides.