Environment America Statement on Selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as Republican Running Mate

Environment America

Statement of Environment America Executive Director Margie Alt on Selection of Congressman Paul Ryan as Republican Vice-Presidential candidate:

“Mitt Romney’s campaign has fallen further into the clutches of Big Oil and the polluter lobby with the selection of Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. Congressman Ryan’s record and his leadership role in the Congress suggest that a Romney-Ryan administration would put the priorities of polluters ahead of our families’ health and the quality of our environment. Based on his voting record, if elected Vice President Ryan would favor cutting support for the development of clean renewable energy such as wind and solar, protecting the subsidies of Big Oil, and decimating crucial public health protections designed to ensure the safety of the water we drink and the air we breathe.

“During his tenure as Congressman from Wisconsin, Mr. Ryan has sided with Big Oil at the expense of our health and of America’s clean energy future. He has been at the helm of an anti-environmental House of Representatives that has attempted repeatedly to roll back core environmental and public health protections. Under Ryan’s leadership the U.S. House of Representatives has showed callous disregard for science and public health, attempted to undermine the growth of the renewable energy industry and has presented itself as a playground for the polluter lobby rather than a protector of the people. The budgets Mr. Ryan has crafted would cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and weaken enforcement of the nation’s core environmental and public health protections.

“Instead of campaigning to reduce our dependence on oil and create a clean energy future; instead of making strong commitments to protect our air, water and the health of our families; by choosing Congressman Ryan, Mitt Romney’s campaign is relegating America to the failed dirty energy policies of the past and the health and environmental problems those policies cause.”