I received this email from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group - a government watchdog organization that makes it real easy for individual citizens to find out what our lawmakers are up to and to voice their opinions to their respective legislators:

Hi Jerry,

Just two months ago, Congress passed a dirty, dangerous energy bill that did nothing to help consumers at the pump. Now, under the guise of hurricane relief, Congress has compiled an industry-wish list of environmental rollbacks and is calling it a new energy bill, even though it would do nothing to solve our energy problems or help consumers cope with rising energy costs.

Please take a moment to urge your U.S. Representative to reject the "No Relief" Bill, H.R. 3893. Then ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this email to them.

To take action, click on the link below or paste it into your web browser:
http://cleanairnow.org/cleanairnow.asp?id=1201&id4=ES


Background

America is too dependent on oil, and consumers are paying the price at the pump. Oil and gasoline prices have been rising steadily over the last few years, with Hurricane Katrina helping to push these prices through the roof. Consumers will be hit hard again this winter, with home heating costs estimated to be 71% higher than last year.

Congress should help solve this problem by ensuring that our cars and trucks go farther on a gallon of gasoline and enacting other policies to save oil, reduce energy costs, and protect consumers from price gouging. Unfortunately, Congress is taking just the opposite path.

H.R. 3893, the "No Relief" Bill, would imperil public health and safety while doing nothing to reduce gas prices or increase energy security. This bill uses the hurricanes as a pretext to advance a longstanding industry agenda to roll back key Clean Air Act protections. For communities across the country, the consequences would be devastating: more asthma attacks, more heart attacks, and serious health problems from millions of additional tons of air pollution. The bill also contains new handouts to the oil industry - as oil companies are reporting record profits - and it limits penalties for price gouging.

Among the bill's most harmful clean air rollbacks are those related to the New Source Review program, smog clean-up deadlines, and clean fuels. The bill would essentially repeal the New Source Review program, which is the key tool for cleaning up old, dirty power plants and other industrial facilities, by allowing these facilities to expand or upgrade in ways that increase pollution without ever installing modern pollution controls. The bill would also delay deadlines to meet national health standards for smog in some of our most polluted cities until as late as 2019, exposing residents to unsafe levels of smog for many years to come. And the bill would derail the cleanup of the nation's diesel trucks, buses, trains and heavy equipment that is slated to begin next summer.

Amazingly, the bill also contains new subsidies for the oil industry, even as oil companies are reporting record profits. For example, the bill contains a potentially unlimited taxpayer subsidy for oil companies if a refinery is delayed because of litigation, even if the litigation results from the oil company violating the law. The bill also limits the penalty a company would have to pay for price gouging to $11,000 per day - regardless of the scope of the gouging.

Please take a moment to urge your U.S. Representative to reject the "No Relief" Bill, H.R. 3893. Then ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this email to them.

To take action, click on the link below or paste it into your web browser:
http://cleanairnow.org/cleanairnow.asp?id=1201&id4=ES

Sincerely,

Gene Karpinski
U.S. PIRG Executive Director
[email protected]
http://www.USPIRG.org

P.S. Thanks again for your support. Please feel free to share this e-mail with your family and friends.