Bipartisan legislation would target “super pollutants”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced on Thursday that she would introduce bipartisan legislation to reduce non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas pollutants that account for 40 percent of global warming.

Collins and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) co-authored the bill to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP), which are also referred to as “super pollutants.”

“I am pleased to be working with Sen. Murphy on this bipartisan legislation to address short-lived climate pollutants, an area where the U.S. is already poised to be a leader,” Collins said. “With improved interagency cooperation and through commonsense efforts to reduce the emissions of these super pollutants, this proposal aims to meaningfully and quickly help slow climate warming.”

The legislation would expand access to diesel-scrubbing technologies, quash methane leaks and recycle high-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants.

“Short-lived climate pollutants are the problem too few people are talking about, but are doing some of the worst damage to the atmosphere,” Murphy said. “As we work to combat threats to our climate, we can’t leave short-lived pollutants out of the equation. Our bill will take these dangerous pollutants head on by making smarter use of tools already at our disposal here in the U.S. This is a bipartisan proposal to address a global threat, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to help us reduce these super pollutants.”

The measure would also establish a framework for interagency cooperation to combat super pollutants and prioritize emission reduction strategies.

Reducing SLCPs in the atmosphere would reduce the rising sea level by 25 percent, prevent two million premature deaths each year, and avoid 30 million tons of annual crop losses, according to studies.

Dupont and other private companies applauded the legislative efforts of Collins and Murphy.