Washington, D.C. — Today, Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced new legislation—the Transparent Pollution Accounting Act—to require federal agencies to consider the costs of climate change when issuing or repealing federal rules. Christy Goldfuss, vice president for Energy and Environment Policy at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
I would like to thank the senators for their leadership on climate change at a time when the Trump administration has abdicated its moral and legal responsibility to respond to this urgent threat. With the polluters’ full-throated support, the Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has put commonsense pollution standards for power plants, cars, trucks, and oil and gas facilities on the chopping block. They are also talking a more sinister approach to blocking climate action by using fuzzy math to discount the benefits of cutting carbon pollution and deflating the costs of climate change to the economy and public health.
This bill requires the EPA and other agencies to recognize and account for what recent victims of wildfires, droughts, floods, and hurricanes know all too well—climate change is already imposing a tremendous personal and economic cost on the United States.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Sam Hananel at [email protected] or 202-478-6327.