Throughout his career, JD Vance has prioritized corporate interests over people’s health and safety. In the Senate, Vance repeatedly supported legislation that undermined clean air and clean water protections and voted to block protections for public health and workers from pollution. Vance has falsely claimed the clean energy plan did “nothing for the environment” despite its provisions being expected to reduce pollution by 40% by 2030. 

Vance has consistently opposed air pollution protections. He opposed Environmental Protection Agency rules to limit pollution from heavy-duty trucks, which are set to avoid up to 1 billion tons of emissions over the next three decades and provide $13 billion in net benefits related to public health, the climate, and savings for truck owners and operators. Vance also opposed Clean Air Act rules to curb pollution from fossil fuel sources and cosponsored legislation to prevent the EPA from implementing or enforcing pollution protections. 

When it comes to protecting our clean water, Vance’s record is no better. Vance voted to repeal the Clean Water Rule and to prevent future administrations from issuing similar rulings, which would jeopardize water resources and threaten pollution protections for critical waters.

Vance, who has taken over $350,000 from Big Oil interests, supported dangerous fracked gas pipelines that pollute our communities’ water and are prone to spills. He also supported mandating approval of permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, whose company is threatened the homes of Appalachian and Indigenous communities, and called the Line 5 pipeline an “important part” of the local economy, ignoring the over 1.1 million gallons of oil that the pipeline has spilled since 1968. 

Updated: 9/24/2024

Vance Threatens Our Clean Air

Vance Opposed Clean Air Protections

• In 2024, Vance cosponsored legislation that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing certain rules that aim to reduce pollution and lower the risk of health problems such as asthma. 
• In 2024, Vance voted to repeal the Federal Highway Administration’s Rule (FHWA), which sets national performance management measures for air pollution.
  • The FHWA’s framework provides transparent and uniform, yet flexible, guidance to states on how to evaluate and track the GHG emissions impacts of their transportation investments. 
• In 2023, Vance voted to repeal the EPA rule limiting heavy-duty truck pollution. These standards are set to avoid up to 1 billion tons of emissions over the next three decades and provide $13 billion in net benefits. 
• In 2023, Vance opposed a Clean Air Act rule that would implement new air pollution standards for fossil fuel-fired plants, saying the rule would be “unworkable for power plants.” 

Vance Opposed Energy Efficiency Standards And Questioned The Harms Caused By Gas Appliances

• In 2024, Vance voted to repeal the Department of Energy’s rule implementing energy efficiency standards for gas furnaces.
• In 2023, Vance renounced potential gas stove standards. 
• Vance also urged the Consumer Product Safety Commission to reevaluate the harms posed by gas-powered appliances.
  • Gas stoves emit harmful nitrogen oxides, and families that use gas stoves without proper ventilation can exceed the standards for safe hourly exposure to those chemicals in minutes.
  • Vance was funded by gas interests. His campaign and leadership PAC received over $380,000 from oil and gas-linked PACs and donors, and Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign super PAC received over $16 million from oil and gas-linked donors.

Vance Attacked The Clean Energy Plan As Doing “Nothing” For The Environment While Attempting To Replace The Plan’s EV Subsidies With Subsidies For Polluting Gas-Powered Cars 

• In September 2023, Vance introduced legislation to replace the clean energy plan’s EV subsidies with subsidies for U.S.-manufactured gas-powered vehicles.
  • Gas-powered vehicles are the leading source of air pollutants that affect human health, triggering problems like asthma, reduced lung capacity, and other respiratory issues.  
• In 2022, Vance said the clean energy plan “does nothing for the environment.” In reality, the clean energy plan marked the largest-ever investment in tackling the climate crisis.
  • Provisions within the clean energy plan are expected to reduce carbon pollution by 40% by 2030 and prevent 21 billion tons of CO2 from entering the air through 2050. 
  • The clean energy plan also included $25 million in Clean Air Act grants to help cut harmful pollution in communities across the U.S.
  • In fact, a steel plant in Vance’s hometown of Middletown, Ohio, received $500 million in grants from the clean energy plan. The funding was estimated to cut the plant’s air pollution by 90%.

Vance Supported Legislation That Would Allow Corporations To Pollute, Putting Communities And The Environment At Further Risk Of Pollution Impacts

• In 2023, Vance voted in favor of an amendment that included provisions of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2023, which would halt the implementation of safeguards for communities and the environment and make corporate polluters less accountable. 

The Operator Of “America’s Deadliest Coal Plant” Was One Of Vance’s Top Contributors In 2022

• The Blackstone Group, which operates the General James M. Gavin Power Plant, contributed over $23,000 to Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign.
• The coal plant has been referred to as the “nation’s deadliest coal plant,” and since 2016, has spewed over 106 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Vance Threatens Our Clean Water

Vance Opposed Clean Water Protections

• In 2023, Vance voted to repeal the Clean Water Restoration Rule, and prevent future administration from issuing similar rulings. The legislation jeopardized water resources and overturned a rule that sought to protect critical waters from unregulated pollution. 

Vance Supports Fracking And Toxic Pipelines That Pollute Our Water 

• In 2023, Vance wrote an op-ed supporting fracking in the Utica Shale Basin, which can pollute drinking water resources through methane contamination, chemical spills, and other impacts on well integrity. 
• In 2023, Vance supported mandating approval of permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a fracked gas pipeline that threatens the region’s land, water, and ecosystems; The company pushing the pipeline is responsible for nearly 400 water quality violations, which pose a threat to public health and safety. 
• In 2022, Vance supported the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline, calling it an “important part” of the local economy. Since 1968, the Line 5 pipeline has spilled over 1.1 million gallons of oil in 33 separate spills across the length of the pipeline, threatening the surrounding Great Lakes as well as wildlife, fishing, and indigenous communities nearby. 
• In 2021, Vance criticized the Biden-Harris administration for closing the Keystone XL Pipeline. During his 2022 Senate campaign, Vance said the decision to close the pipeline “shot ourselves in the foot when it comes to energy prices.”
  • The Keystone XL pipeline’s route would have crossed through the Ogallala aquifer, which provides drinking water for 2.3 million people and stores 78% percent of the public water supply in Nebraska.
  • The National Congress of American Indians celebrated the Keystone XL pipeline’s closure because it would have endangered the lands, waters, communities, and sacred sites of sovereign Tribal Nations.