Bill Text: IN SR0067 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Recognizing the importance of the Clean Air Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-28 - First reading: referred to Committee on Energy and Environmental Affairs [SR0067 Detail]
Download: Indiana-2011-SR0067-Introduced.html
A SENATE RESOLUTION recognizing the importance of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean
Air Act.
, read first time and referred to Committee on
MADAM PRESIDENT:
I offer the following resolution and move its adoption:
A SENATE RESOLUTION recognizing the importance of
the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the
Clean Air Act.
Whereas, Under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) sets limits on certain air pollutants,
including setting limits on how much can be in the air
anywhere in the United States.
Whereas, The Clean Air Act also gives the EPA the
authority to limit emissions from air pollutants coming from
sources such as chemical plants, utilities, and steel mills.
Whereas, On March 11, 2011, the EPA released the Second
Prospective Study estimating the benefits and costs of the 1990
Clean Air Amendments, finding the direct benefits significantly
exceed their direct costs, which means economic welfare and
quality of life for Americans were improved by passage of the
1990 Amendments.
Whereas, That same report estimates that the economic benefits of reducing fine particle and ground level ozone pollution under the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments will reach
approximately $2 trillion in 2020. These savings are a result
of disease prevention, prevention of lost-work days, and from
the prevention of approximately 230,000 premature human
deaths in that year alone.
Whereas, On April 2, 2007 the Supreme Court found that
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including carbon dioxide, fit
within the definition of air pollutant under the Clean Air Act.
Whereas, On December 7, 2009 the EPA administrator
found that the current and projected concentrations of the six
key well-mixed greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane,
nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and
sulfur hexafluoride) in the atmosphere threaten the public
health and welfare of current and future generations, and that
the combined emissions from motor vehicles cause and
contribute to the climate change problem.
Whereas, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) has concluded that warming of the Earth's climate
system is now unequivocal. This conclusion is based on
observations of increases in average air and ocean
temperatures, melting of ice and snow, and average sea level
across the globe.
Whereas, The non-partisan National Academy of Sciences
has stated that a strong, credible body of scientific evidence
shows that climate change is occurring, is caused largely by
human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range
of human and natural systems, and
Whereas, The U.S. Global Change Research Program has
found that climate-related changes are already observed in the
United States and its coastal waters. These include increases
in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly
retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, earlier snowmelt, and
alterations in river flow, therefore:
SECTION 1. That the Indiana Senate recognizes the importance of the Clean Air Act and its positive effects on the health and well- being of the residents of Indiana.
SECTION 2. That the Indiana Senate recognizes that climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is a serious problem that can be addressed by EPA regulations.
SECTION 3. That Indiana utilities have a responsibility to follow the EPA guidelines for the best interest of the public and environmental health.
