©2025 League of Conservation Voters
2012 Scorecard Vote
46
53
Issues
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member James Inhofe (R-OK) sponsored S.J. Res. 37, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval, which would void the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard for power plants, thus threatening the lives and health of thousands of Americans. Mandated by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard is a long overdue public health safeguard that, for the first time, sets national limits on harmful air toxins that are emitted from oil- and coal-burning power plants, including mercury, acid gases, lead, and arsenic. Power plants are the single largest U.S. source of mercury pollution, which is especially dangerous to children and expectant mothers. Once fully implemented in 2016, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard would prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths, thousands of heart attacks, and over 100,000 asthma attacks each year. The CRA resolution is a radical legislative tool that would undo these protections and prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from ever taking similar steps in the future to protect communities from this harmful power plant pollution. On June 20, the Senate rejected the Inhofe CRA resolution by a vote of 46-53 (Senate roll call vote 139). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.
©2025 League of Conservation Voters