wfn.org | Moral Basis for Clean Air Standards

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3431 notes).

Note 3429 by UMNS on Feb. 12, 1997 at 15:50 Eastern (2298 characters).

SEARCH:   clean air, environment, standards, cost-benefit,
               Fassett, United Methodist
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Joretta Purdue                       75(10-65-71B){3429}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722           Feb. 12, 1997

United Methodist agency head
enters clean air standards debate

     WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- The head of the United Methodist agency
for social action and advocacy issued a statement here Feb. 11
objecting to the direction debate on clean air standards appears
to be moving on Capitol Hill.
     "We must question the moral assumptions undergirding the
industry's critique of the proposed standards," said the Rev. Thom
White Wolf Fassett, general secretary of the Board of Church and
Society.
     His statement -- read by staff member Maria Paz Artaza-Regan
at a press conference that included statements of several public
health, religious and environmental groups -- challenges using
cost-benefit analysis as the criteria for setting standards.
     "It is morally wrong to question the human right to clean air
and to place industry's costs above benefits protecting public
health," he said.
     Fassett cited two resolutions of the United Methodist Church.
One states that "every individual has a right to a safe and
healthful environment." The other says "we believe all persons
have the right to breathe clean air" and advocates strict
enforcement of adequate standards.
     "Christians are called by God to fulfill a dual
responsibility: to care and love God's creation and to seek
justice for the poor, the captive and the oppressed," he said.
     Calling proposed stronger air quality standards "a positive
step," he declared that they are "a means to establish a society
that respects God's creation and acknowledges the sanctity and
uniqueness of human life."
     In this statement, Fassett brings to bear the extensive past
statements of the church in its resolutions and Social Principles.
Only General Conference, the organization's top legislative
assembly, speaks for the denomination.
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