It's so exciting to see immediate environmental progress at the federal level, with the new administration breathing life back into California's Clean Car Standards.  But there's a dramatic role reversal going on as California suddenly leaves its post as green leader to consider snuffing out some of our best environmental programs in the name of the budget.  As the Sacramento Bee reports, the Republican legislative leadership is exploiting the budget crisis to repeal laws that protect the health and safety of Californians, yet have nothing to do with the budget.

Included on the chopping block is the Off-road diesel regulation, a bedrock clean-up measure that will bring major relief to communities throughout California that are suffering from air pollution and public health impacts.  The construction industry is demanding massive delays to diesel clean-up that will translate to an additional 360 premature deaths and almost 10,000 additional cases of asthma and respiratory illness, according to CARB.

These proposals are literally bargaining away the lives of Californians, and they do nothing to improve our budget situation.  In fact, the off-road diesel clean-up regulation is projected to save California $26 billion in health costs.  What's more, diesel clean-up technologies, including those that will be used for construction equipment, actually boost the economy, adding thousands of new jobs dealing with diesel engines.  A number of California companies, like Cleaire, are thriving at the forefront of diesel control technology.

It is profoundly undemocratic for a handful of legislators to go behind closed doors to secretly reverse landmark environmental and public health protections that have already undergone thorough legal, administrative and public processes.  Protecting public health and safety is good for the economy and we cannot afford to lose these protections in the budget process.