Blue Dog Altmire attempts to gut EPA's power to set H2O standards for states.

[Divernan]

Environment as pinata: America the beautiful? House bills have other ideas
Friday, July 22, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

This week brought the depressing news that Pennsylvania is second only to Ohio in having the worst toxic air pollution in the nation, according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Physicians for Social Responsibility. Read it and weep -- weep for your country.

Weep not only because Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are doing everything in their power to delay or stop the so-called Mercury Rule that the Environmental Protection Agency needs to clean the nation's air but also because the EPA and the environment itself are themselves in the political cross-hairs to an extent not seen in years.

As Ed Perry, a retired biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and now the Pennsylvania outreach coordinator with the National Wildlife Federation, says, "This is the most amazing assault on clean air, water and wildlife that I have seen in my 40 years of working on conservation issues."

Consider the evidence: Last week the House passed the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act, HR 2018, an attempt to gut the EPA's power to set water standards for states -- and never mind that water from one state can flow downriver to degrade the next. Although this bill embodies extreme conservative ideology, Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, is a co-sponsor and voted for it.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11203/1162028-192.stm#ixzz1Spb535Uv

"Extreme conservative ideology" - that's Altmire!

[livetohike]

1. He's disgusting. I hope he gets primaried next time around

He is my m-i-l's rep.

[Bull_Moose]

2. Typical Jason

Rep. Altmire is my representative. Very typical of him, frankly... anything he can do to be the center of attention or let people know he's a conservative Democrat, it shall be done. Gotta love having a lobbyist as your congressman.