The Clean Air Act & other climate policy: Make Them Hear You

Make Them Hear You is a weekly commentary segment by Chris Mohr, encouraging you to make your voice heard by your legislators.

This week, Mohr discusses there are three bills before Congress right now that have been passed in the House and are on their way to the Senate.

First, the FENCES Act, which allows polluters to use foreign emissions to avoid accountability.

Then there is the Red Tape Act, which removes requirements for EPA review of certain federal projects. And finally, the Fire Improvement and Reforming Exceptional Events, or FIRE Act, which excludes air quality data, enabling polluters to affect the decision-making process at the EPA in their favor.

Chronic exposure to pollution from wildfires alone has been linked to tens of thousands of deaths annually in the United States.

The journal Science Advances found that from 2006 to 2020, long-term exposure to tiny particulates from wildfire smoke contributed to an average of 24,100 deaths a year in the lower 48 states.

The Foreign Emissions and Nonattainment Clarification for Economic Stability Act, or FENCES Act, protects states from being penalized for foreign emissions they cannot control.

The act is designed to amend the Clean Air Act to clarify standards for emissions emanating from outside the United States, meaning that local polluters can claim pollution is coming from out of state.

Find your state legislators in Colorado

Find your House representative

Contact Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado

Contact Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado

Make Them Hear You airs every Wednesday on the Morning Magazine, KGNU’s weekday morning show with coverage of local and regional news with headlines and commentary. Click here to listen to full episodes of the Morning Magazine.