April 27, 1976
Page 11295
By Mr. MUSKIE :
S.J. Res. 190. A joint resolution to request the. President to issue a proclamation designating the first week of May of each year as Clean Air Week. Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, Clean Air Week is a well established event, having been initiated in 1949. This year it will be observed for the first time in May, rather than on the customary October date.
Today, I am introducing a joint resolution requesting the President to issue a proclamation designating the first week of May of each year as Clean Air Week. Clean Air Week is sponsored by the American Lung Association and its affiliated lung associations throughout the United States. It was first initiated in October 1949 by the Air Pollution Control Association to observe the Nation's first documented air pollution tragedy at Donora, Pa., in which 6,000 became ill and 20 died. The American Lung Association has designated the first week in May of each year as Clean Air Week so that the event may have the uplift of springtime.
Air pollution continues to be a major problem affecting the health and welfare of Americans. The sum of $5 billion in medical bills is paid by the American people as part of a total annual cost of $12 billion attributed to air pollution. The more we study this problem the more extensive we find the implications of air pollution for the health and welfare of this Nation's citizens. Pollution has been found to travel much greater distances than previously believed. New chemicals are emitted each year as a result of the development of new products and new processes.
Over 200 million tons of harmful air pollutants are emitted in to America's air each year. This means that for every man, woman, and child in the United States, there is one ton of air pollutants contaminating the air in the United States.
Air pollution contributes to the early death of many people, to increased respiratory illnesses, to the aggravation of chronic diseases such as asthma and bronchitis, to lung cancer, and heart disease, and detracts from the quality of life experienced by the public.
The Senate will be considering the 1976 Amendments to the Clean Air Act on the Senate floor during the week of May 28. It is fitting and appropriate that we address this issue at that time, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and those amendments.
I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the joint resolution was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
S.J. Res. 190
Whereas air pollution continues to cause increased illness, contributes to chronic diseases, contributes to premature death, and reduces the quality of life; and
Whereas Americans presently spend five billion dollars in medical bills alone as a part of the annual costs of air pollution; and
Whereas continued public attention is needed to maintain and renew efforts to reduce air pollution; and
Whereas total emissions of pollutants continue to increase, causing harm and requiring continued attention to preventing such pollution; and
Whereas the American Lung Association has designated the first week of May of each year as Clean Air Week, now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President is hereby authorized and requested to issue a proclamation designating the first week of May of each year as "Clean Air Week."