![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Statement Of Phyllis Wetherby
Environmental Protection Agency
Aging Initiative Public Listening Session
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
April 23, 2003
Phyllis Wetherby
President of First Pittsburgh Chapter
National Organization for Women
President of First Pittsburgh Chapter
National Organization for Women
I am Phyllis Wetherby, President of the First Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Organization for Women. The Chapter has endorsed the position of opposition to the "senior death discount"1, 2 and the whole effort by the Bush administration to weaken or eliminate the life supporting regulations that have been promulgated during the past century.
Today, I choose to address the third point on the Agenda: 3 Encourage older adults to volunteer to address environmental hazards.
This whole listening program is clearly an environmental hazard. It is a distraction to occupy our attention and that of the Press while the administration mutilates the clean air act, 4 the clean water act, 5 protection of the Arctic wilderness, 6 affirmative action7 (humans are part of my environment). You name it, it is targeted.
Then there's the shell game: The EPA tells us that they didn't decide to use the senior death discount on their own, 2 the OMB made them do it. Of course, there's the War on Iraq to keep us busy while they strip away the protection for our environment.
Which brings us to another environmental hazard: Patriot Act II. If it passes as it is written now, citizens will no longer be able to use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain documents for study of violations or the results of inspections. 8, 9 No. They will have to go to government reading rooms where they will be able to see the documents but not even take notes.
What is the value of a life? Immeasurable and uncountable. What is the value of environmental protections that have saved billions of hours of life over the last 30 years? Beyond measure by the formulas designed by the Office of Management and Budget or the Environmental Protection Agency.
Thank you for listening.
References:
1 Don Hopey, "What's an older person's Life worth? EPA saying it's less in drafting new rules," The Post-Gazette, April 15, 2003
2 Seth Borenstein, Knight Ridder Newspapers, "Elderly less valuable in cost-benefit analysis," The Miami Herald, posted on Wed, Dec. 18, 2002;
3 Environmental Protection Agency, "A national agenda for the environment and the aging: setting priorities for research and education to address environmental hazards that threaten the health of older persons," Federal Register, vol 68, no. 42, p 10239, March 4, 2003;
4 Sierra Club, "Clean Air Program".
Clean Air Trust, "The Bush Administration's Air Pollution Plan Would Shred Current Clean Air Act Protections,"5 Environmental Media Services, "Bush admin undermining Clean Water Act, environmentalists say," Jan. 15, 2003,
6National Resource Defense Council, "Save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge;"
Defenders of Wildlife, "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge"
7 [Reference not included in document]
8 [Reference not included in document]
9 [Reference not included in document]