Political Quotes

“Senator Feinstein, the fires have affected us-- nothing like what you describe. Our State has not burned. Our State is not like California today, still smoldering from such a massive fire. We don't have the devastation of the photograph that you just showed us, but it has sure affected our air quality. All the way across the continent, the fires we have had in California, Oregon, and Canada have affected the Atlantic States as far south as North Carolina. As you know, these fires lost tremendous amounts of what they call fine particulates into the atmosphere, and those fine particulates exacerbate asthma and other respiratory conditions, increase the risk of diseases like lung cancer. In a nutshell, bad air equals bad health, and we are getting bad air from these fires. Of course, forest fires aren't the only way that climate change degrades Rhode Island's air quality. You just make the air warmer, which global warming is doing, and hotter temperatures help to form more ozone. Ozone, as we know, is dangerous for children and the elderly and anybody with a respiratory condition. One in ten Rhode Islanders has asthma. Our air quality receives a grade of C from the American Lung Association, largely from forces out of our control--out-of-State sources and ozone coming in from upwind States. This is not just an inconvenience. Across the country, air pollution, much of it made worse by climate change, causes a staggering 200,000 premature deaths each year.…”