Providence, RI – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s decision today in Ohio v. EPA, which temporarily halted an effort by the Environmental Protection Agency to curb air pollution and smog that flows from “upwind states” in the Midwest and South to “downwind states” like Rhode Island:
“In downwind states like Rhode Island, we all know that a ‘bad air day’ poses serious consequences for high-risk groups like children, seniors, and people with asthma or other breathing conditions. We rely on the EPA to protect our air and our lungs from upwind polluters who pump their emissions high into the atmosphere and out of state.
“Instead of deferring to the scientists and public health experts at the EPA, today a right-wing majority gave another pollution pass to the fossil-fuel billionaires who packed the Supreme Court. Even worse, the majority did so without the benefit of thorough briefing or a fully developed record, setting up the polluters for another big win down the road. I am not surprised that this Captured Court did exactly what the polluters asked, but I am deeply disappointed that it’s the people of Rhode Island that will suffer as a direct result of another disastrous decision.”
