At the end of last week, the House voted to let states deal with coal ash, a toxic byproduct of mining, the same way they deal with municipal garbage. The Associated Press called this:
the latest [vote] of several passed by the Republican-controlled House that would shift authority from the Environmental Protection Agency and reduce regulations Republicans say are burdensome, hamper economic growth and cost jobs.
That doesn't even begin to do justice to the attacks that Congress has mounted on the environment and the people who live in it (oh, hey, that's us!). Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman's Energy and Commerce committee has counted 168 votes that the House has taken so far this Congress that "undermine the protection of the environment."
One-hundred sixty eight votes is not "several." It's a lot! (It is worth noting that not all of the 168 passed.) Most of the votes went after the EPA; the second biggest group aimed to "block actions that prevent pollution." To dig in further, check out the browsable database that Waxman's committee put together on what the representative calls "the most anti-environment House in history."
