The American Lung Association, a leading opponent of efforts on Capitol Hill to repeal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, has plastered one Republican lawmaker’s district with a particularly provocative ad.
Residents in Michigan’s 6th District are being introduced to an ALA campaign that features billboards specifically targeting their congressman, Republican Rep. Fred Upton, who also happens to be the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Upton has also been instrumental in congressional efforts to rein in the EPA’s regulatory authority and authored a bill that would do just that.
The Upton bill passed the Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this month, while a companion bill in the Senate introduced by Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe has been attached as an amendment to a small business bill. It’s unclear, however, when the full House or Senate will vote on the measure.
But the ALA has played an integral role in framing the debate as an affront to public health, as their new ad suggests.
It features a sickly-looking girl with an oxygen mask and reads, “Rep Fred Upton, protect our kids’ health. Don’t weaken the Clean Air Act.”
There are four billboards with the ad so far. At least one of them is directly across from Upton’s district office.