Dispelling Myths Part 2

This is old news, but I haven't had anything to post on before, so it gets posted today:

Clear Skies Act:

While we all agree that clearer skies are better (for the unimportant things, like breathing and living – not just for aesthetics), many republicans wonder why congressional Democrats are so against the “clear skies act”.

The question goes: Why are democrats against clearer skies?

The answer is as follows: In 1990, a law was passed called the “Clean Air Act.” This law says that over time, pollution will continually have to be decreased. They use more technical language as well as address specific types of pollution, but the idea is that with each passing year, acceptable pollution levels go down. Not only will going over the maximum pollution level be illegal, but there are also tax cuts to companies that have cleaner waste.

But like any law, this bill can have amendments – an addition to the law that changes or alters the way the existing law is carried out. This is what the “Clear Skies” initiative is. It is a helpful addition in name only – what it in fact does is give the companies LONGER to decrease their pollution. Although their pollution must still decrease over time, it will take longer than it would under the existing plan. So while the name of the initiative is “clear skies” the skies are in fact less clear than if the initiative did not pass. It doesn’t even address CO2 emissions, which he claimed it would in his 2000 campaign promises. It also does not address global warming and in fact contributes more to it.

Why would the president try to pass such a bill? Well, simply, he can use it to claim that he helped the environment. Which he has, repeatedly. He mentioned it numerous times during the debates and during every single state of the union address. And let’s faces, it sounds good to say you passed the “clear skies act.”

There are numerous other reasons for such an act being passed by the president. Some of which are listed on the following websites:

http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollution/qbushplan.asp

http://www.sierraclub.org/cleanair/clear_skies.asp

Whether you believe other websites or not, it is still a bill that not only could have been better but should have been better. One of the claims about the Bush administration was that preventing pollution as the clean air act did would hurt the economy. It won’t.