Norton Amendment to Protect Clean Air Act from Republican Anti-Environment Bill to be Voted on the House Floor, Today

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that a Norton amendment to the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016 (H.R. 4775) has been made in order for consideration and a vote on the House floor this afternoon. Norton said the bill is a systematic attack on the Clean Air Act by undermining the act’s key air-quality provisions that protect Americans from air pollution. The Norton amendment would make H.R. 4775 null and void if the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, in consultation with the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, found that implementation of the bill could harm human health or the environment.

“The Clean Air Act is one of our nation’s most significant and effective achievements toward protecting our health from air pollution,” Norton said. “The Republican bill being considered today is an unprecedented assault on the Clean Air Act’s public health protection. It is critical that we continue the progress we have made on combating air pollution, not roll back the critical provisions that protect the health of the American people, particularly children and the elderly, who are most vulnerable. Almost 17,000 children in the District of Columbia have pediatric asthma, and over 115,000 children and teens in the District are at risk of health implications from smog. My amendment ensures that if this dangerous bill has a detrimental effect on the health of Americans or the environment, it will cease to apply.”