Advocacy Group, Students Deliver Inhalers To Diaz-Balart's Office

DORAL (CBS4)- A local environmental advocacy group, along with representatives and university students, delivered inhalers to Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart's district office to send him a message about his latest environmental vote.

The action was in response to Diaz-Balart's vote last Saturday in favor of a funding bill (HR 1), which they said allows industrial facilities to emit more dangerous air pollution, specifically blocking the EPA from limiting carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources.

Environment Florida, a state-wide, citizen-funded environmental advocacy group, and 1Sky representatives joined Florida International University students with the Florida Youth Environment and Sustainable Coalition (FL YES) held signs with slogans such as "Clean Air = Happy People" and "Public Health, not More Pollution" they also delivered inhalers to Diaz-Balart's district office in Doral Thursday morning.

Sarah Bucci, federal field associate with Environment Florida, who works out of the agency's Miami Beach location, said they used the inhalers as a symbol to bring awareness and to show their disapproval.

"We had five inhalers, but then we made about half a dozen props of larger inhalers that had asthma-related facts on them," Bucci said.

The bigger inhalers carried with them messages to Diaz-Balart and his office, including "Pleas let me breathe clean air." Other inhalers were designed with facts written on them, including statistics about the number of people with asthma, Bucci said.

The group said the congressman's vote block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from reducing pollution that causes asthma and other respiratory and developmental ailments.

Nearly 300,000 Miami-Dade County and Broward County residents in and around Congressman Diaz-Balart's district with asthma, including over 88,500 children, are at increased risk of adverse health consequences if he is successful in preventing the US EPA from updating Clean Air Act standards, according to data compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environment Florida's press release said.

"This effort denies the EPA the ability to do what they were created for: protect the environment and human health." said Cara Cooper, a student leader with FL YES from Florida International University. "It is more important than ever for the American youth to step up and demand clean air and a healthy future because if pollution is allowed to continue recklessly, we are the ones who will be responsible for cleaning up the mess."

Bucci said health statistics shows that hundreds of thousands of Miami-Dade and Broward County residents suffer from asthma, including thousands of children.

"We are releasing data that showed there are more than 88,500 children that have asthma in and around the Congressman's district."

Diaz-Balart was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002. In 2010 he was elected to represent Florida's 21st Congressional District, which includes parts of Miramar, Hialeah and Kendall.

He was recently recognized as the recipient of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) award for Manufacturing Legislative Excellence.

The U.S. House passed the "Continuing Resolution" funding bill (HR 1) on Feb 19, and Diaz-Balart expressed his concern.

"The time has finally come to restrain runaway spending. These reductions are essential in order to revive our economy and create jobs for the American people," Diaz-Balart said in a statement. "The Obama administration's out-of-control spending has not led us into prosperity; on the contrary, it has led us down the path of bankruptcy. Today, we took advantage of the opportunity to turn our country around by targeting wasteful, duplicated, and fraudulent programs that have exhausted the American taxpayer."

He said that the bill is the next step towards economic growth.

"This CR is the first step of many that are necessary to fix this fiscal mess and bring sanity and common sense into our policies. I stand ready to continue working with my colleagues to renew the American spirit of innovation, promote job creation and restart our engine of economic growth."

But those outside of his office Thursday disagreed with his support for the bill. They claim the bill neglects public health.

"As the EPA works to protect public health from dangerous carbon pollution, Congress should support their efforts, not stand in the way," Bucci said.

In the end, Bucci said everyone, a total of 12 people, meet with those at Diaz-Balart office.

"We went in and they welcomed us to express our disapproval with him for voting that way," Bucci said.