Gallegly Should Back Clean Air Revisions

I’ve been anxiously watching the most recent fight for public health, the EPA’s revisions for smog and particle soot to the Clean Air Act.

I was grateful to see that President Clinton was finally pressured into doing the right thing by the citizens of this country and signed these revisions in late June. I’ve since been horrified by the continued attempts by Congress to repeal those revisions.

Despite the fact that California has the worst air quality in the nation, despite the fact that asthma, bronchitis and numerous other acute respiratory illnesses are up 118% since 1980 and account for tens of thousands of emergency room visits every year, and despite more than 270 studies showing that 64,000 Americans die every year because of air pollution, Rep. Elton Gallegly has failed to support these revisions and work in the best interest of his constituents.

Gallegly has also ignored the cost-benefit analysis on this issue, which pegs the cost of implementation at $8.5 billion a year while saving us $112 billion every year in Medicare, Medicaid and other areas.

The only explanation for why Gallegly has yet to accurately represent us, the voters, on this issue is the $30-million campaign polluters have waged to defeat these revisions.

I strongly urge Gallegly to do as his fellow representatives to both the north and south of him have done and listen to the citizens who put him in officeon this issue and support these revisions to the Clean Air Act.

FRANK BLACK

Goleta