United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Re: Oppose H.R. 2021, the Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011
Dear Representative:
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) works to turn environmental values into national priorities. Each year, LCV publishes the National Environmental Scorecard, which details the voting records of members of Congress on environmental legislation. The Scorecard is distributed to LCV members, concerned voters nationwide, and the media.
LCV urges you to vote NO on H.R. 2021, the Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011, which would allow the world’s largest oil companies to circumvent air pollution standards that protect our air and health. The Clean Air Act should not be undercut to benefit large oil companies like Shell, the company promoting this legislation as a means to avoid limiting its dangerous air pollution in the Arctic. If enacted into law, this bill would have wide reaching, detrimental public health effects not only in the Arctic, but also off the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts—any place where offshore drilling may occur.
Specifically, this bill would allow Shell and other large oil companies to sidestep critical Clean Air Act protections and avoid commonsense limits on the pollution their offshore drilling operations dump into the air we breathe. H.R. 2021 would exempt these companies from requirements to apply available pollution control technology to vessels involved in offshore drilling and waive permit reviews by the Environmental Appeals Board, while allowing oil companies—but not communities forced to breathe dirty air—to pursue administrative review.
The potential health impacts are tremendously worrisome. Shell’s proposed 2010 Arctic drilling plan alone would have released as much particulate matter into the air as more than 825,000 cars traveling 12,000 miles, while dumping in massive quantities other harmful pollutants associated with respiratory illness and climate change. Communities in the Arctic and throughout the country where offshore drilling takes place would face serious health effects from these loopholes.
We urge you to reject this assault on the Clean Air Act by voting NO on H.R. 2021. The world’s most profitable oil companies should be held to the highest health and environmental standards, not given free passes to pollute the air we breathe. We will strongly consider including votes on this bill in the 2011 Scorecard. If you need more information, please call Alex Taurel, Tiernan Sittenfeld, or Sara Chieffo in my office at (202) 785-8683.
Sincerely,
Gene Karpinski
President