Tell Your House Member NO on SB 71!
CURRENT STATUS: Headed to the Floor of the House
WHAT TO SAY TO YOUR LEGISLATOR ABOUT THIS BILL:
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OUT OF STATE INTERESTS AND WASHINGTON DC LOBBYISTS ARE FOR THIS BILL – ACTUAL ALABAMIANS ARE AGAINST IT.
- This bill will endanger Alabamians' families. It keeps state agencies from using all of the scientific evidence to create standards for toxic substances such as Arsenic, Cyanide, and Forever Chemicals (PFAS) and allows Washington D.C. to dictate what is best for Alabama and the health of our families.
- SB 71 would require ADEM and other state agencies to find out what directly causes human diseases like cancer before regulating these pollutants. That is NOT sound science. That is *impossible* science. All scientific evidence we have for the causes of diseases like cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses is based on risk, not direct causal links.
- SB 71 places too much authority in the federal government’s hands. It creates an insurmountable burden of proof to adopt our own rules, instead of allowing Alabama to set our own standards for the health of our families. This bill directly limits Alabama’s environmental protections to the current federal law, surrendering our own decision-making power to defend our rights.
- This bill will increase the cost of treating drinking water. If more hazardous chemicals are allowed in our drinking water sources, utilities and customers will have to pay the price to clean them up.
- The bill will require state agencies to wait until animals or people are dying or sick from toxic exposure before they are allowed to adopt rules about dangerous chemicals or substances.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ALABAMIANS?
If these bills pass, they would weaken the state's ability to protect our air, water, and soil. They would hamper our state’s ability to protect our streams from sediment and runoff, eliminate any potential to regulate the vast majority of emerging contaminants like PFAS, and prevent Alabama from setting its own water quality criteria to protect our environment, our economy, and Alabamians’ health.
THE INSIDE SCOOP ON WHY THIS BILL IS BEING INTRODUCED
Last year, health, safety and environmental groups petitioned the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) to decrease the amount of toxins that polluters could discharge into our waterways based on recent scientific data. The Environmental Management Committee actually instructed ADEM to begin rulemaking to create standards more protective of human health. Click here to read more from al.com, and here from Alabama Political Reporter.
Please read and send the letter to the right (or below if on your phone)
and add your own personal comments if you can!