Church Group Calls Bush's Clean Air Policies 'Immoral'
By Elizabeth M. Gillespie
The Associated Press
Thursday 22 April 2004
A national group of Christian leaders is sending a scathing letter to President Bush on Earth Day, accusing his administration of chipping away at the Clean Air Act.
"In a spirit of shared faith and respect, we feel called to express grave moral concern about your 'Clear Skies' initiative -- which we believe is The Administration's continuous effort to weaken critical environmental standards to protect God's creation," the National Council of Churches wrote in an advance copy of the letter provided to The Associated Press.
The New-York based group, which represents 50 million people in 140,000 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox denominations, argued in the letter that the administration's proposed changes to certain Clean Air Act rules will allow "some of the country's biggest polluting facilities to avoid installing air pollution control equipment when they significantly increase polluting emissions."
The Environmental Protection Agency did not immediately return calls for comment on Wednesday.
In the past, the EPA has defended the so-called "new source review" rule changes proposed last August. Marianne Horinko, the EPA's acting administrator at the time, said they "will result in safer, more efficient operation of these facilities and, in the case of power plants, more reliable operations that are environmentally sound and provide more affordable energy."
Rev. Bob Edgar, a United Methodist minister and the church council's general secretary, questioned the administration's rhetoric on air pollution.
"The people we talk to, both inside and outside the administration, say ... that these changes will in fact weaken, not strengthen the Clean Air Act. And we will in fact have dirtier air and less compliance," said Edgar, who pushed various environmental laws through Congress during six terms representing a suburban Philadelphia district in the U.S. House of Representatives from the mid-1970s to mid-80s.
In December a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the new rules from taking effect, agreeing with more than a dozen states and cities that contended the changes could cause irreparable harm to their environments and public health.
The church council said it was sending its two-page letter to the president on Thursday, as people all over the country celebrate Earth Day. It took out a full-page ad in The New York Times, scheduled to run in Thursday editions, calling on Bush to leave the Clean Air Act's new source review rules in place.
The council also is urging ministers across the country to talk about the problems of air pollution during this week's services.
Monica Myers, pastor at Seattle's Northwest Christian Church, a Disciples of Christ congregation, said she doesn't plan to bash Bush in her sermon on Sunday. Instead, she said she'll simply remind her congregation that pollution and other environmental problems tend to affect the poor more harshly than those who can afford to live in places far away from polluting factories or toxic waste sites.
"I want to emphasize that their faith should direct them as they vote," she said. "Responsible Christians should weigh the teachings of Jesus Christ, especially as they speak of those who are poor and marginalized."
The church council is one of a growing number of religious groups that have been voicing harsh criticisms of environmental policies they characterize as an assault on God's creation.
The council joined the Evangelical Environmental Network in a "What would Jesus drive?" campaign in November 2002, urging the auto industry to adopt stricter emissions standards and calling on SUV owners to switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Last year it put on a conference dubbed "Enough for All" at Seattle University, focusing on ways to promote environmental stewardship in a global economy dominated by free trade and consumerism.
LETTER TEXT
The text of the National Council of Churches' Earth Day letter to President Bush:
Dear Mr. President,
In a spirit of shared faith and respect, we feel called to express grave moral concern about your "Clear Skies" initiative -- which we believe is The Administration's continuous effort to weaken critical environmental standards that protect God's creation. Our concern over the "Clear Skies" initiative follows our strong disapproval over your Administration's decision to change federal air pollution rules that weaken "New Source Review" provisions of the Clean Air Act -- allowing some of the country's biggest polluting facilities to avoid installing air pollution control equipment when they significantly increase polluting emissions.
We do not come to these positions casually, nor are we alone in our views. A growing number of religious Americans have come to recognize a solemn obligation to measure environmental policies against biblically mandated standards for stewardship and justice.
Respected scientific estimates, some by the federal government itself, cause us to question whether this "Clear Skies" proposal meets fundamental moral responsibilities as set out by the Bible.
The book of Genesis records that God beholds creation as "very good" (Genesis 3:1) and commands us to "till and tend the garden" (Genesis 2:15).
Protection of the global climate is an essential requirement for faithful human stewardship of God's creation on Earth. Our own National Academy of Sciences --- joining an overwhelming scientific consensus --- concluded in 2001 that carbon emissions from power plants are significantly contributing to the increase in global warming. Yet your initiative pointedly does not set mandatory standards of reduction for these emissions. A multi-pollutant approach must address all significant emissions from power plants, including carbon emissions.
Clean air is as essential to life as a stable climate. Yet the Environmental Protection Agency reports that millions of Americans live in areas that have been deemed unhealthy to breathe. Power plants are the single greatest source of industrial air pollution in the nation. The American Lung Association asserts that the attainment of reductions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury that would take effect under the existing Clean Air Act will be delayed for years if "Clear Skies" is adopted by Congress.
Our Bible sets forth a paramount obligation to "defend the poor and the orphan; do justice to the afflicted and the needy" (Psalms 82:3) and calls us to "satisfy the needs of the afflicted, _ 1/8and_ 3/8 then your light shall rise in the darkness" (Isaiah 58: 10).
Poor people, who have limited access to health care; senior citizens, who may have compromised immune systems; and children, who pound for pound breathe 50 percent more air pollution than adults, are disproportionately hurt by air pollution. Epidemiological studies from leading health scientists have shown that air pollution from power plants increases respiratory distress, asthma attacks, visits to the emergency room and even premature death. Again, Mr. President, we question the rationale of delaying power plant pollution reductions by the enactment of your "Clear Skies" initiative, as the American Lung Association has pointed out, rather than simply enforcing the reduction attainments of the Clean Air Act. This means more trips to the emergency room, more asthma attacks, more chronic bronchitis and more premature death, with the greatest impact falling on those least able to defend themselves: the poor, the elderly, and our children.
We are reminded that "The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" (Psalms 24:1). And we are also reminded that a nation is judged for its transgressions "because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals" (Amos 6:2).
The private use of creation's bounty must serve the needs of all God's children. Yet we are concerned that powerful corporate interests have had disproportionate influence in shaping and reaping benefits from a clean air program which should serve the common good.
Finally, we have a solemn duty to the future well-being of Earth and all life within it, "the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature for perpetual generations (Genesis 9:12)."
Yet we believe that the Administration's energy, clean air, and climate change programs prolong our dependence on fossil fuels, which is depleting Earth's resources, poisoning its climate, punishing the poor, constricting sustainable economic growth and jeopardizing global security and peace.
We represent broad perspectives from communities of faith. We do not seek confrontation. But we believe there are reasonable and prudent alternatives to the course you have set. And, in light of fundamental mandates of scripture, we believe we must bring forward our perspectives to members of our respective communities and denominations.
We have written previously to you voicing our concerns on these important issues. We now request an opportunity to meet with you in person to discuss our concerns.
Source: National Council of Churches
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