Tell U.S. House members to vote against attack on public health

UPDATE: As expected, H.R. 3409 passed the House by a 233-175 margin. All of Kentucky's representatives except for Rep. John Yarmuth voted to side with polluters and against public health. More info here.

UPDATE: The vote is now likely to take place on Friday, September 21. Please continue to call and email.

Leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have taken several of their failed anti-public health, anti-environment bills from the 112th session of Congress and bundled them into H.R. 3409, improperly titled the "Stop the War on Coal Act of 2012."

The various bills mostly target the efforts of the Obama administration to limit the devastating health and environmental impacts of the mining and burning of coal. According to the scientific studies on which some of those efforts are based, the new clean air standards alone would save $2 trillion in public health costs by 2020 and prevent at least 230,000 deaths and many more hospitalizations.

The bills that have been bundled into H.R. 3409 are:

• The original H.R. 3409, titled the Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act, that would prevent the Secretary of the Interior from issuing new rules such as an overdue Stream Buffer Zone rule, and would eliminate the "lands unsuitable for mining petition" that Kentucky residents have used on a few occasions to protect their communities from proposed mining. See more analysis of this bill here from Appalachian Voices;
• H.R. 910, the Energy Tax Prevention Act, passed in April 2011, would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act; learn more about this bill from the American Lung Association;
• H.R. 2401, titled the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act, or TRAIN Act, passed in September 2011, a bill that health experts called “the single biggest attack on the 40-year history of the Clean Air Act.” That language in this bill blocks needed protections from health-harming air pollution generated by power plants that endanger the lives of tens of thousands; learn more about this bill from NRDC;
• H.R. 2273, the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, passed in October 2011, curtailing the EPA's ability to regulate the disposal of coal ash from power plants; and
• H.R. 2018, Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act, passed in July 2011, would limit EPA action with regard to state regulation of water quality.

The legislation previously passed by the Republican-controlled House has been stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

KFTC members in several communities in eastern Kentucky – including Wilson Creek in Floyd County and Lynch in Harlan County – have used the Lands Unsuitable for Mining petition in efforts to protect their communities. It was also instrumental in the successful campaign to save Black Mountain – Kentucky’s highest peak – more than a decade ago.

A vote on H.R. 3409 could come as early as Thursday afternoon (September 20), House leaders have announced.

It is important that Kentucky's U.S. House members know that their constituents want them to vote against the terrible bill. Please contact your representative and urge him to “vote No on H.R. 3409.” Call or email up until 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday as the vote is expected to happen some time after that.