This week, Illinois’ new congressman, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, had a chance to stand for Illinoisans’ health, but instead he sided with polluters by lending his support to a congressional attack on the Clean Air Act.
If left unchecked, global warming threatens Illinoisans’ health in many ways, from more frequent heat waves and droughts to more extreme blizzards and floods. In July 1995, Chicagoland suffered its worst weather-related disaster ever when a week of 90 degree and 100 degree days combined with high humidity and accumulated air pollution to kill 700 people. That heat wave pales in comparison to Europe’s in 2003, the worst in 150 years, which killed between 30,000 and 70,000 people.
According to a recent report by 13 federal science agencies, if global warming continues unabated, Chicagoland could have heat waves resembling Chicago’s 1995 weather three times per year — and one like Europe’s every two years.
Global warming doesn’t just mean hotter summers — it means more extreme weather all year round. More floods, like the one that inundated Illinois cities along the Mississippi in the summer of 2008. More snowstorms, like last week’s, which stranded motorists in the freezing cold on Lake Shore Drive.
Of course, we can’t be sure climate change caused any one of those events, but we know that global warming will make future similar events much more common.
The Clean Air Act requires U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to act when pollution harms human health and welfare. That’s why the EPA is now poised to implement clean air standards for America’s very biggest global warming polluters.
Unfortunately, some in Congress — including Illinois Rep. John Shimkus and, most recently, Kinzinger — have cosponsored legislation to block these standards and let polluters continue to cause irreparable harm to our health and environment.
It’s more important than ever for Sen. Mark Kirk to not stand on the sidelines as our Clean Air Act protections are compromised. I urge Sen. Kirk to stand up for Illinois families and declare his support for the Clean Air Act and the EPA’s new pollution standards.
— Miranda Carter, Environment Illinois, Chicago
