By Lynn Thorp, National Campaigns Director
This week's U.S. House votes around oil and gas activities demonstrate that extreme views can easily dominate public policy debate. Masquerading behind titles including words like "energy security"
these three bills are about none of that. These bills would eliminate federal oversight of oil and gas drilling on public lands, including removing the baseline protections for clean water and public health which we would expect to apply to this activity wherever it occurs. One bill would put absurd restrictions on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) scientific research into the potential harm to drinking water from hydraulic fracturing extraction activities. Another removes common-sense routine oversight from the permitting process for interstate pipelines.
We are
urging everyone to tell their Representatives to vote "NO" on all of these bills.
The public policy debates we ought to be having in this country include how to get off of fossil fuels in order to avert the worst impacts of
climate change and how to protect our health and natural resources - including our drinking water - from the pollution caused by our activities. Both of these tasks can be accomplished, but not if our elected representatives spend their time on misleading messaging and extreme policy proposals.
