WASHINGTON, D.C. – At the Fox Business Network Republican primary debate tonight, Gov. Jeb Bush said he would repeal the Clean Power Plan and Clean Water Rule. In response, LCV Senior Vice President of Campaigns Daniel J. Weiss issued the following statement:

“Jeb Bush just made a desperate attempt to please the big polluters that fund his campaign. He continues to ignore what’s important to the American people — including many GOP voters — by threatening to put our clean air and water at risk. He is misguided about the benefits of the Clean Power Plan, which protects the health of our families, grows the economy, and creates jobs. These national carbon pollution limits have been embraced by a broad and diverse set of stakeholders—including utilities, public health experts, clean energy advocates and others. He is equally mistaken about the Clean Water Rule, which will protect the drinking water of one in three Americans.”

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Transcript from the Fox Business Network GOP debate

GOV. BUSH: “On the regulatory side, I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work-in-progress – everyone of them, and start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the internet, we have to start over but we ought to do that. The Clean Power Act [sic], we ought to repeal that and start over on that. The Waters of the United States Act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industry, we should repeal that we should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit.”

BACKGROUND ONLY

Gov. Bush Has Raised $264,500 From Oil & Gas So Far This Cycle. Thus far into the 2016 campaign cycle, Gov. Bush has raised $264,500 from the Oil & Gas industry. Other than retired Americans, Oil & Gas contributions are among the ten highest contributors.  [Jeb Bush Industries, Open Secrets, accessed 11/10/15]

• Super PAC Aligned With Gov. Bush Has Raised More Than $9 Million From Oil & Gas Industry. Right to Rise USA, the group which labels itself as the “leading independent super PAC supporting Jeb Bush’s campaign for President,” has raised $9,192,760 from the Oil & Gas industry so far in the electoral cycle. Oil & Gas has donated the second-highest total to the super PAC, trumped only by the Security & Investment industry.  [Right to Rise USA Industries, Open Secrets, accessed 11/10/15; Right to Rise USA, accessed 11/10/15]

The Clean Power Plan, The First-Ever National Effort To Address Carbon Pollution From Power Plants, Takes Aim At “Pollutants That Cause The Soot And Smog That Harm Health.” The Clean Power Plan is the “first-ever national standards that address carbon pollution from power plants.” It “cuts significant amounts of power plant carbon pollution and the pollutants that cause the soot and smog that harm health.”  [EPA Fact Sheet, 8/3/15]

EPA’s Clean Power Plan Helps Avoid Up To 3,600 Premature Deaths And 90,000 Asthma Attacks In Children. According to an August 2015 White House Fact sheet, “The Clean Power Plan … will reduce premature deaths from power plant emissions by nearly 90 percent in 2030 compared to 2005 and decrease the pollutants that contribute to the soot and smog and can lead to more asthma attacks in kids by more than 70 percent. The Clean Power Plan will also avoid up to 3,600 premature deaths, lead to 90,000 fewer asthma attacks in children, and prevent 300,000 missed work and school days.”  [White House Fact Sheet, accessed 8/3/15]

Clean Power Plan Will Create Up To 273,000 Jobs By 2040. On April 14, 2015, the University of Maryland’s Department of Economics released a report titled, “Assessment of the Economy-wide Employment Impacts of EPA’s Proposed Clean Power Plan.” The report stated, “This document presents an economy-wide assessment of the employment impacts associated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed Clean Power Plan .. this analysis estimates a net gain of 74,000 jobs in 2020, and projects that these annual employment gains will increase to 196,000 to 273,000 jobs between 2025 and 2040. These results represent a 0.1-0.2 percent increase in civilian employment.” According to Inside Climate News, the report is based on a “trusted, sophisticate model.”  [University of Maryland Dept. of Economics Report, 4/14/15; Inside Climate News, 4/21/15]

Clean Power Plan Reduces The Average American Family’s Electricity Bill. The EPA’s Clean Power Plan will “reduce energy waste and improve efficiency” and is expected to cut average electricity bills by 7 percent. In other words, “by 2030, the average American family will save $7 on their electric bill every month.”  [EPA Fact Sheet, 8/3/15]

Waters Of The United States Rule Restores Guaranteed Protections For Waters, While Allowing For Other Sources Of Water To Be Protected Based On “A More Localized Analysis.” Based on a thorough, peer-reviewed “scientific backdrop,” the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers jointly proposed the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule; with the rule, the agencies “proposed to restore guaranteed protections to tributaries and nearby waters, and to allow for the protection of other waters based on a more localized analysis of their role in downstream water quality.” WOTUS “leaves unchanged the longstanding protections for waters that can float a boat (including smaller recreational craft), coastal waters, interstate waters, and impounded waters (like reservoirs behind dammed rivers)”; “restores guaranteed protections that federal clean water rules used to contain for tributaries, and it requires flowing waters to have a couple of physical indicators (an ordinary high water mark and a bed and bank) in order to qualify as a tributary”; “safeguards wetlands and ponds that are adjacent to other covered waters, which had been protected prior to the Supreme Court’s decisions and the prior administration’s policies”; “for waters not considered adjacent, the rule would allow for their future protection based on an analysis whether they significantly impact downstream water conditions in the watersheds in which they’re located”; and “exempts a long list of features from being covered by the law, namely things that the agencies have determined are less important to treat as protected because they are less relevant to downstream water quality. This includes some of the bogeymen that the opponents of the rule have claimed would’ve been covered by the proposal, absurdly including puddles.”  [NRDC, 5/28/15]

Waters Of The United States Rule Protects Clean Drinking Water For 117 Million Americans – Approximately One In Three. According to the EPA, “People need clean water for their health: About 117 million Americans – one in three people – get drinking water from streams that lacked clear protection before the Clean Water Rule. America’s cherished way of life depends on clean water, as healthy ecosystems provide wildlife habitat and places to fish, paddle, surf, and swim.”  [EPA, 5/27/15]