Image: not Sierra Club, but via RepublicanDirtyTricks.com.

Republicans (you know, the same party that blocked health care for 9/11 heroes while using fear of terrorism to advance their pro-corporation agenda) continue to show that they don’t actually care about Americans—they care about American companies (even if said companies store their dough in foreign tax havens and outsource their jobs). Now, don’t get me wrong: I love Republicans—traditional Republican values have a lot to love. Nixon, imperfect as he was, created the Clean Air Act and the EPA. Teddy Roosevelt created the National Park System. But this generation of faux-Republicans seems less interested in historic Republican values or bipartisanship and more interested in winning. Period.

Aren’t we all in this together? Aren’t we all working to nurture and protect America and American values of freedom, education and enterprise?

Via Sierra Club, some sad news that requires nonpartisan action:

Waylon,

Stand Up to Republican’s New Attacks on the EPA and our Health – Send a Message!

The Republican leadership has made its choice and it makes us sick.

It took them exactly one day in office to show their true colors and declare an all-out war on the Clean Air Act and the EPA.1

Contact your members of Congress today and tell them that these Republican attacks on the EPA and our health make us sick.

House Republicans like Rep. Issa (R-CA), Upton (R-MI), and Carter (R-TX) are trying to dismantle the public health protections we’ve fought so hard for, all for one simple reason  – to support oil and coal polluters’ bottom line.

The current EPA rule for cement plants Republicans are working to eviscerate will cause up to 2,500 premature deaths a year, 13,000 days of work missed due to pollution related health problems, and cost our economy at least $6.7 billion.2

It’s a stark choice between our health and corporate greed.  Republican leaders have made their choice – where will your legislators stand?

Send your members of Congress a letter and make sure they are as outraged about this power-grab for corporate polluters as we are.

Let’s be clear. Rolling back the cement rule is just the first of many corporate supported efforts to halt progress in protecting our health and environment.

It’s time to draw a line in the sand. Our elected officials can stand with us and fight for our health and communities or stand with the polluters, their bank accounts, and their pro-asthma, pro-heart attack, pro-sickness agenda.

Send a message to your members of Congress to make sure they stand with us and not with corporate polluters.

Thanks for all that you do to protect the environment.

Sarah Hodgdon
Sierra Club, Conservation Director

P.S. Please forward this message and help spread the word to your friends and family!

[1] “E.P.A. Faces First Volley from the House,” New York Times: January 6, 2011.

[2] “Portland Cement: Factsheet,” Earthjustice Factsheet: 2010.