WASHINGTON - The national conservation organization Trout Unlimited (TU) today urged the leadership of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to maintain and expand strong air quality protection standards as it considers competing legislation to replace or amend the Clean Air Act.
"Reducing acid rain remains a top priority for TU's 135,000 members," said Leon Szeptycki, Eastern Conservation Director, "as does reducing mercury contamination, which kills a common joy of fishing - letting kids keep and eat what they catch." Szeptycki also indicated that an overwhelming body of scientific research has shown that carbon dioxide emissions are changing our climate, with recent findings illustrating that such changes will compromise trout and salmon resources.
"Congressional leaders need to recognize and act upon the reality that rigid air quality protections simultaneously safeguard American public health and the best interests of the tens of millions of Americans who fish - as well as the local economies that depend on them," Szeptycki said.
"Congress too often abandons limits on polluting emissions when industry complains about the costs of those limits," said Steve Moyer, VP for Government Affairs. "But this inclination imprudently ignores the human health and wildlife losses these emissions trigger."
The specific recommendations made by TU include passing more aggressive and faster emissions cuts than those currently under consideration, fewer regulatory rollbacks, and at least some action on carbon dioxide emissions.
Trout Unlimited is North America's leading coldwater fisheries conservation organization, dedicated to the conservation, protection and restoration of trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds.