The drumbeat of actions organized by the Clean Air Act Defense campaign in Minnesota ensured that Senator Franken and Senator Klobuchar were champions for clean air protections. In November, both Senators voted to protect the EPA and Clean Air Act by rejecting the Coates-Manchin bill. Furthermore, Senator Klobuchar addressed clean air as one of her top priorities during a February speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

In the speech, Senator Klobuchar championed the bipartisan work that forged the Clean Air Act:

“In the past, Democrats and Republicans have managed to come together to confront tough challenges. From the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s to keeping Social Security solvent in the 1980s to welfare reform in the 1990s. But perhaps the most fitting example in the context of combating climate change is the Clean Air Act…When the bill passed in the 1990s, it had strong bipartisan support from Democrats and Republicans alike. It’s worth mentioning that all ten members of the Minnesota (Congressional delegation at the time, which included five Democrats and five Republicans, supporting the bill, including Republican Senator Dave Durenberger, who is among its chief authors and staunchest supports. Since then, the Clean Air Act has helped prevent more than 18 million child respiratory illnesses and 300,000 premature deaths.”

We applaud Senator Klobuchar’s leadership in encouraging America to be more forward-thinking and “…come together and hammer out hard-won solutions to tough challenges. Nowhere is this more important than our quest to move America forward through smarter energy and environmental policies. The finish line won’t be Neil Armstrong hoisting a flag on the moon. It will be building a next generation of energy-efficient windows and doing it in northern Minnesota instead of China, or an electric car battery factory in Memphis, Tennessee, instead of Mumbai, India, or a wind turbine manufacturer in San Jose, California, instead of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

What we need now is a comprehensive national blueprint for energy policy in this country, a solution that preserves the integrity of our air, of our water and natural resources, that gives businesses the incentives to research and develop new source of energy that invest in the next generation of American innovation. That is our challenge. It’s not going to happen overnight, but I believe that we will get it done. We have before. We will do it again.”

We look forward to both Senators keeping clean air as a priority by continuing to protect the EPA and Clean Air Act and championing legislation that curbs pollution, protects human health, and mitigates climate change.

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The Clean Air Act is literally a lifesaver and one of the most successful environmental laws anywhere in the world. For over forty years, the Clean Air Act has given the Environmental Protection Agency the right to protect public health and regulate air pollution.

Clean Air Act Benefits

With the largest scientific staff other than NASA, the EPA investigates the impact of pollutants on the environment and human health and sets limits based on these findings.

Since Nixon signed the Clean Air Act into law in 1970:

• the EPA has prevented over 400,000 premature deaths and hundreds of millions of cases of respiratory illnesses, such as asthma;
• the six commonly found air pollutants have decreased by more than 50 percent, while the U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP, has tripled;
• air toxics from large industrial sources, such as chemical plants, petroleum refineries, and paper mills have been reduced by nearly 70 percent;
• and, new cars, light trucks, and heavy-duty diesel engines are more than 90 percent cleaner.

These regulations are proven to save lives, protect the environment, and help the economy. An EPA tool shows that Minnesota will receive between $650 million and $1.6 billion each year in health benefits as a result of the final Cross State Air Pollution Rule. Another EPA study shows that the same rule will prevent 13,000 to 34,000 premature deaths and 1.8 million missed days of school or work.

Rulemaking Process

In order to make the Clean Air Act work on a day-to-day level, Congress authorizes the EPA to create regulations. Regulations set specific requirements about what is legal and what isn't. Once the regulation is in effect, EPA then works to help Americans comply with the law and to enforce it.

Every regulation is developed under slightly different circumstances, but this is the general process:

• Step 1: EPA Proposes a Regulation
• Step 2: EPA Considers Your Comments and Issues a Final Rule
• Step 3: The Regulations is Codified in the Code of Federal Regulations

An important point to note is that citizens have a voice in this process and are encouraged to weigh in on rules by submitting comments.

Threats to the Clean Air Act

Polluters and their allies in Congress have been working to weaken the clean air standards that protect our families and our environment, proposing rollbacks that would have a devastating impact on our health and economy. In 2011, the Will Steger Foundation worked with a coalition of advocacy groups at the state and federal level to stop attacks on the Clean Air Act.

Learn More about other areas: Clean Energy • Clean Air • Public Outreach • Back to Policy