Friday's column on the coming closings of the Sunoco and ConocoPhillips refineries can be found here.

Katie Feeney from the Clean Air Council, felt compelled to respond:

If Mr. Spencer wants to get serious about the 3 E’s – Energy, Economy and Environment – then he should begin by ceasing to perpetuate the false myth being brought on by House Republicans like Rep. Jim Gerlach, Rep. Patrick Meehan and Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick that America must pit jobs against public health.

Recent Congressional attacks on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act, and federal health safeguards will not help the economy, because a healthy economy begins with healthy citizens.

For example, H.R. 2401, also known as the TRAIN Act, which passed recently in the U.S House of Representatives, would yield 175,000 more asthma attacks and more than 25,000 premature deaths in the first year alone if made into law, due to smog, soot, and toxic air pollution. Clean Air Act safeguards have contributed nearly $2 trillion in economic benefits since 1990 while saving 160,000 American lives this year alone. The polluter predictions of economic calamity have never come true, and credible economic reports have determined that clean air standards promote economic growth and create jobs.

I take great offense to Mr. Spencer’s suggestion that environmentalists are rooting for a failed economy. Environmentalists strive to see good-paying jobs that enhance our energy security and cannot be shipped to China. Currently, there are more clean energy jobs in the U.S. than oil and gas jobs – 2.7 million in clean energy and 2.4 million in oil and gas. If the clean energy industry were afforded similar subsidies that have been enjoyed by the coal, nuclear and oil and gas industries for decades, they could create even more American jobs.

Jobs are important but it is irresponsible to suggest that we can only have them by forfeiting public health and the future of the plant (sic) to wealthy, fossil fuel-based corporations.

I'll deal with some of Katie's concerns in tomorrow column. In the meantime all I can say is...