By Ernest A. Canning on 10/13/2011, 7:35am PT  

Guest blogged by Ernest A. Canning

Contrary to the Republican Party's recently launched, all-out War on the EPA, the 40-year old Environmental Protection Agency, founded during the Richard Nixon Administration with strong bi-partisan support, is a job creator, according to a newly released report by the Majority Staff of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), the committee's 29-page report [PDF] touts "essential contributions that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and landmark environmental laws" contribute towards "protecting public health and promoting economic growth."

It also highlights quotes from radical leftists like George W. Bush's Republican EPA Director, Christie Todd Whitman ("[I]t is easy to forget how far we have come in the past 40 years. We should take heart from all this progress and not, as some in Congress have suggested, seek to tear down the agency that the president and Congress created to protect America’s health and environment.") and President Gerald Ford ("Nothing is more essential to the life of every single American than clean air, pure food, and safe drinking water").

The Democrats' report excoriates the deceptive partisan attacks embodied in recently introduced GOP House legislation meant "to weaken EPA's authority to regulate toxic emissions," and concludes by underscoring the EPA's role in promoting both environmental and economic health in the nation...

Over the 40 years since the creation of EPA, we have seen the economic and health benefits of protecting our public health and environment. According to the Department of Commerce, an estimated 1.7 million jobs and $300 billion in revenues are generated by industries that support environmental protection. Clean air protections are estimated to produce $2 trillion in annual health benefits by 2020. And for every $1 billion invested in infrastructure to reduce water pollution and treat drinking water, up to 26,669 jobs are created.

These safeguards reduce premature deaths and illnesses, promoting a healthier, more productive work force.

Attacks on the nation’s successful public health protections are not supported by the facts. Repeated studies have shown that polluting industry claims of costs and job losses are often inaccurate.

In introducing the report (see video below), Sen. Boxer quoted statements made by Republican Presidents Nixon and Ford in signing pertinent environmental legislation involving regulation by the EPA. She described the GOP attacks on the popular federal agency --- an assault funded by dirty fossil fuel corporations like Koch Industries --- as "unprecedented" and "outrageous;" adding, "If you can’t breath, you can’t work"...

Video of Boxer's introduction of the Senate EPW Staff Report follows...

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Article Categories: Rights And Freedoms, Accountability, U.S. House, Environment, U.S. Senate, Barbara Boxer, Health Care, Democrats, Republicans, Richard Nixon, EPA, Koch Industries