EPA Report Shows Importance of Clean Air Act to America's Ability to Lead in the Global Clean Energy Economy

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --In response to the Environmental Protection Agency report titled "The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act from 1990 to 2020," the following statement was issued today by Chris Van Atten, spokesperson, American Businesses for Clean Energy:

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100426/DC93350LOGO)

"The more than 5,000 businesses active in American Businesses for Clean Energy supported action by the last Congress on climate and clean energy legislation. Now Congress is debating a possible roll-back of the Environmental Protection Agency's clean air protections.

"A new report from the EPA underscores the critical need to defend the Clean Air Act and preserve EPA's authority to protect human health and the environment. The EPA report estimates that the nation's clean air laws have delivered $2 trillion in benefits to date.  Today's EPA report is very much in the same vein as the analysis last month from Ceres and the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst detailing 1.4 million possible new jobs from the implementation of pending EPA Clean Air Act updates. 

"The evidence is clear: We can -- and should -- add to the $2 trillion in benefits that we already have seen from the Clean Air Act.  Undercutting the Clean Air Act would only set us back in the global competition to lead the clean energy economy.  A clean environment provides the foundation for a healthy functioning economy."

ABOUT ABCE

American Businesses for Clean Energy (ABCE) was founded in late-2009 to demonstrate large and small business support for Congressional enactment of clean energy and climate legislation that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ABCE's goal was to create a single place on the web where individual companies and business organizations can register their support for Congressional action, and to demonstrate the depth and breadth of business support for this legislation. In 2010, ABCE broadened its mission beyond federal climate change legislation, to include support for the EPA and the safeguards that ensure clean air for America.  For more information, go to http://www.abce.us.

SOURCE American Businesses for Clean Energy, Washington, D.C.