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By AMY WOLD

Four Louisiana congressmen have signed on to support proposed legislation to prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases as a pollution.

Reps. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman; Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette; John Fleming, R-Minden; and Steve J. Scalise, R-Metairie, have signed on to HR 97 — also called the Free Industry Act.

This act would amend the Clean Air Act and exclude greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from the definition of air pollution.

Currently, EPA considers greenhouse gas as a pollutant that falls under the Clean Air Act and as such can be a regulated air emission.

“Our elected officials should hold big polluters accountable,” said Dan Lashoff, director of the Climate Center with Natural Resources Defense Council, during a news conference Thursday.

However, 123  House members from 35 states have already signed on to co-sponsor legislation to limit EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

According to the council, more carbon dioxide pollution “increases the risk of heat stress, promotes the spread of infectious diseases and makes it more difficult to reduce smog pollution.”

Not regulating greenhouse gases will have a health impact on people living in the United States and that should be a large consideration for lawmakers, said Brenda Afzal, a nurse and Climate Policy Coordinator with the international Health Care Without Harm organization.

“Some members of Congress want to turn the clock back on air quality,” she said.

However, congressmen disagree.

“This bill will prevent the EPA from sneaking through a backdoor ‘cap and trade’ energy tax that will run millions more jobs out of our country and jeopardize America’s energy security,” Scalise said in a statement.

Original Article