Environment

“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”

Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, Section 27

Rep. Dean believes that the protection of our planet and environmental stewardship are some of the government's core responsibilities. That is why she introduced H. Res. 410 which recognizes the 50th anniversary of the ratification of Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment, outlined above.

She values our natural spaces and supports efforts to preserve vulnerable species. She also recognizes that environmental considerations are deeply entwined in other areas of policy — including public health, the economy, and our national defense.

Climate Change

In Congress, Rep. Dean supports legislation to boost America’s investments in renewable energy, fund green infrastructure, and reengage in global agreements to combat climate change. She is also a leading voice in the fight for a stronger, better-funded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Rep. Dean is proud to cosponsor H.R. 9 — the Climate Action Now Act — which passed the House in May 2019. This legislation would keep the United States in the Paris Agreement and require the President to develop a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28%.

In the 117th Congress, Rep. Dean is leading the climate discussion as a cosponsor of the THRIVE Act. This transformational legislation would put over 15 million people to work in family-sustaining, union jobs across the economy — from care work to manufacturing — to drastically cut climate pollution by 2030 and advance gender, environmental, Indigenous, economic, and racial justice, with particular attention to Black and Indigenous people.

Additionally, Rep. Dean was an early cosponsor and leader for the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. This bill would place a rising fee on carbon pollution that will get America to net zero emissions by 2050. Revenue from the fee would be distributed evenly to all Americans as monthly payments

Clean Water

Rep. Dean seeks to ensure that everyone has clean water — a fundamental human right. Specifically, she is working to combat the spread of per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which affect the drinking water supplies of millions of Americans.

Rep. Dean is a founding member of the PFAS Task Force — a bipartisan group working to combat water contamination through legislative solutions.  

Rep. Dean has led bipartisan efforts to end the contamination of our water. She led a letter with more than a dozen Members of Congress to fully fund a nationwide study on the impact of PFAS contamination in Fiscal Year 2020 so that our communities will have the necessary information to make informed decisions about their health and water quality. Rep. Dean also introduced the Toxic PFAS Control Act to list and regulate PFAS chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This bill would phase out PFAS by banning the manufacturing and processing of these chemicals, while also requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate their disposal; and

Please see our PFAS Page for more information on her work on PFAS and its health impacts

Conservation

Rep. Dean believes we must work to protect our natural spaces, wildlife, and natural resources for future generations.