[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 42 (Monday, April 18, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: April 18, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPORT PROMOTION ACT OF 1994
Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3813) to amend the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 to promote
further United States exports of environmental technologies, goods, and
services as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 3813
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Environmental Export
Promotion Act of 1994''.
SEC. 2. PROMOTION OF UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL EXPORTS.
(a) Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee.--
Section 2313 of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C.
4728) is amended--
(1) by striking subsection (d);
(2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (e); and
(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
``(c) Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory
Committee.--
``(1) Establishment and purposes.--The Secretary, in
carrying out the duties of the chairperson of the TPCC, shall
establish the Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory
Committee (hereafter in the section referred to as the
`Committee'). The purpose of the Committee shall be to
provide advice and guidance to the Working Group in the
development and administration of programs to expand United
States exports of environmental technologies, goods, and
services.
``(2) Membership.--The members of the Committee shall be
drawn from representatives of--
``(A) environmental businesses, including small businesses;
``(B) trade associations in the environmental sector;
``(C) private sector organizations involved in the
promotion of environmental exports;
``(D) States (as defined in section 2301(i)(5)) and
associations representing the States; and
``(E) other appropriate interested members of the public.
The Secretary shall appoint as members of the Committee at
least 1 individual under each of subparagraphs (A) through
(E).
``(d) Export Plans for Priority Countries.--
``(1) Priority country identification.--The Working Group,
in consultation with the Committee, shall annually assess
which foreign countries have markets with the greatest
potential for the export of United States environmental
technologies, goods, and services, Of these countries the
Working Group shall select as priority countries 5 with the
greatest potential for the application of United States
Government export promotion resources related to
environmental exports.
``(2) Export plans.--The Working Group, in consultation
with the Committee, shall annually create a plan for each
priority country selected under paragraph (1), setting forth
in detail ways to increase United States environmental
exports to such country. Each such plan shall--
``(A) identify the primary public and private sector
opportunities for United States exporters of environmental
technologies, goods, and services in the priority country;
``(B) analyze the financing and other requirements for
major projects in the priority country which will use
environmental technologies, goods, and services, and analyze
whether such projects are dependent upon financial assistance
from foreign countries or multilateral institutions; and
``(C) list specific actions to be taken by the member
agencies of the Working Group to increase United States
exports to the priority country.''.
(b) Additional Mechanisms To Promote Environmental
Exports.--Section 2313 of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988
is further amended by adding at the end the following:
``(f) Environmental Technologies Specialists in the United
States and Foreign Commercial Service.--
``(1) Assignment of environmental technologies
specialists.--The Secretary shall assign a specialist in
environmental technologies to the office of the United States
and Foreign Commercial Service in each of the 5 priority
countries selected under subsection (d)(1), and the Secretary
is authorized to assign such a specialist to the office of
the United States and Foreign Commercial Service in any
country that is a promising market for United States exports
of environmental technologies, goods, and services. Such
specialist may be an employee of the Department, an employee
of any relevant United States Government department or agency
assigned on a temporary or limited term basis to the Commerce
Department, or a representative of the private sector
assigned to the Department of Commerce.
``(2) Duties of environmental technologies specialists.--
Each specialist assigned under paragraph (1) shall provide
export promotion assistance to United States environmental
businesses, including, but not limited to--
``(A) identifying factors in the country to which the
specialist is assigned that affect the United States share of
the domestic market for environmental technologies, goods,
and services, including market barriers, standards-setting
activities, and financing issues;
``(B) providing assessments of assistance by foreign
governments that is provided to producers of environmental
technologies, goods, and services in such countries in order
to enhance exports to the country to which the specialist is
assigned, the effectiveness of such assistance on the
competitiveness of United States products, and whether
comparable United States assistance exists;
``(C) training Foreign Commercial Service Officers in the
country to which the specialist is assigned, other countries
in the region, and United States and Foreign Commercial
Service offices in the United States, in environmental
technologies and the international environmental market;
``(D) providing assistance in identifying potential
customers and market opportunities in the country to which
the specialist is assigned;
``(E) providing assistance in obtaining necessary business
services in the country to which the specialist is assigned;
``(F) providing information on environmental standards and
regulations in the country to which the specialist is
assigned; and
``(G) providing information on all United States Government
programs that could assist the promotion, financing, and sale
of United States environmental technologies, goods, and
services in the country to which the specialist is assigned.
``(g) Environmental Training in One-Stop Shops.--In
addition to the training provided under subsection (f)(2)(C),
the Secretary shall establish a mechanism to train--
``(1) Commercial Service Officers assigned to the one-stop
shops provided for in section 2301(b)(8), and
``(2) Commercial Service Officers assigned to district
offices in districts having large numbers of environmental
businesses, in environmental technologies and in the
international environmental marketplace, and ensure that such
officers receive appropriate training under such mechanism.
Such training may be provided by officers or employees of the
Department of Commerce, and other United States Government
departments and agencies, with appropriate expertise in
environmental technologies and the international
environmental workplace, and by appropriate representatives
of the private sector.
``(h) International Regional Environmental Initiatives.--
``(1) Establishment of initiatives.--The TPCC shall
establish one or more international regional environmental
initiatives the purpose of which shall be to coordinate the
activities of Federal departments and agencies in order to
build environmental partnerships between the United States
and the geographic region outside the United States for which
such initiative is established. Such partnerships shall
enhance environmental protection and promote sustainable
development by using in the region technical expertise and
financial resources of United States departments and agencies
that provide foreign assistance and by expanding
United States exports of environmental technologies,
goods, and services to that region.
``(2) Activities.--In carrying out each international
regional environmental initiative, the TPCC shall--
``(A) support, through the provision of foreign assistance,
the development of sound environmental policies and practices
in countries in the geographic region for which the
initiative is established, including the development of
environmentally sound regulatory regimes and enforcement
mechanisms;
``(B) identify and disseminate to United States
environmental businesses information regarding specific
environmental business opportunities in that geographic
region;
``(C) coordinate existing Federal efforts to promote
environmental exports to that geographic region, and ensure
that such efforts are fully coordinated with environmental
export promotion efforts undertaken by the States and the
private sector;
``(D) increase assistance provided by the Federal
Government to promote exports from the United States of
environmental technologies, goods, and services to that
geographic region, such as trade missions, reverse trade
missions, trade fairs, and programs in the United States to
train foreign nationals in United States environmental
technologies; and
``(E) increase high-level advocacy by United States
Government officials (including the United States ambassadors
to the countries in that geographic region) for United States
environmental businesses seeking market opportunities in that
geographic region.
``(i) Environmental Technologies Project Advocacy Calendar
and Information Dissemination Program.--The Working Group
shall maintain a calendar, updated at the end of each
calendar quarter, of significant opportunities for United
States environmental businesses in foreign markets and trade
promotion events, which shall be made available to the
public. Such calendar shall--
``(1) identify the 50 to 100 environmental infrastructure
and procurement projects in foreign markets that have the
greatest potential in the calendar quarter for United States
exports of environmental technologies, goods, and services;
and
``(2) include trade promotion events, such as trade
missions and trade fairs, in the environmental sector.
The Working Group shall also provide, through the National
Trade Data Bank and other information dissemination channels,
information on opportunities for environmental businesses in
foreign markets and information on Federal export promotion
programs.
``(j) Regional Centers.--The Secretary, through the
Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the
United States and Foreign Commercial Service, is authorized
to provide matching funds for the establishment in the United
States of regional environmental business and technology
cooperation centers that will draw upon the expertise of the
private sector and institutions of higher education and
existing Federal programs to provide export promotion
assistance related to environmental technologies, goods, and
services.
``(k) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term
`environmental business' means a business that produces
environmental technologies, goods, or services.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Connecticut [Mr. Gejdenson] will be recognized for 20 minutes, and the
gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Roth] will be recognized for 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. Gejdenson].
Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, under an agreement with the gentleman
from Wisconsin [Mr. Roth], I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Studds] who has played a very
important role in this legislation.
(Mr. STUDDS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. STUDDS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his kindness.
Mr. Speaker, as an original cosponsor of this bill and avid proponent
of the programs it establishes to promote U.S. exports of environmental
technologies, goods, and services, I rise in strong support of H.R.
3813.
I wish to especially thank the chairman of the Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Trade and Environment for his
cooperation in crafting this legislation. It has been a pleasure
working with Mr. Gejdenson and with Ms. Furse on this proposal.
H.R. 3813 shares a common goal with legislation Congresswoman Furse
and I introduced last year--the National Environmental Trade
Development Act of 1993--H.R. 2112--and that is to help U.S. companies
export their environmental products and services and to help other
countries solve their environmental problems.
This legislation is needed if American businesses are to take
advantage of the growing global market for environmental technologies.
The market stands at $200 billion a year now, and experts project that
it will grow to close to $600 billion by the year 2000. The United
States, which pioneered the concept of strong environmental protection
laws, must be in the forefront of capturing this market. If we
establish a viable public-private partnership, we can take advantage of
the expanding market for environmental technologies and create as many
as 30,000 new jobs in this country.
In Massachusetts alone, there are over 1,300 companies employing over
40,000 people in ``green'' businesses. Many of these companies have
been leaders in the development of environmental technologies. They
have developed ways to recycle laundry grey water, have developed a
method using the natural properties of plants and sunlight to treat
sewage, and, in the case of Molten Metals, have figured out how to
safely recycle chemical waste. I applaud their ingenuity and support
their efforts with this legislation.
The New England region has also been at the forefront of recognizing
the importance of overseas markets for the sale of U.S. environmental
technologies. New England companies and institutions, including the
University of Massachusetts, have formed the Environmental Business
Council of New England and launched the Environmental Business Council
of the United States, the first truly national trade association for
``green'' companies. The efforts and foresight of the EBC under the
wise leadership of Don Connors and Jack Driscoll have brought us to
where we are today. I applaud their efforts as well as those of
President Michael Hooker of the University of Massachusetts who has
played a key role in linking the university and industry in promoting
environmental technology and business.
The Gejdenson-Studds-Furse bill supports the public-private
partnership that the EBC and others have already begun. I wish to point
out two principal examples of how the legislation does this. One is the
creation of the Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee, a
committee of business, State, and private sector organizations, that
will advise the Secretary of Commerce and other agencies involved in
export promotion on how to expand U.S. exports of environmental
technologies, goods, and services. The committee will also help
identify five priority countries with the greatest potential for
acquiring U.S. environmental exports and develop a marketing plan for
each priority country.
The other significant way the bill fosters a public-private
partnership is by sponsoring Regional Environmental Business and
Technology Cooperation Centers. These centers, to be funded by matching
grants from the Commerce Department, will be run by the private sector.
They will provide hands-on technical assistance to environmental
businesses in the region they serve on how to export their products as
well as provide training to foreign nationals on uses of U.S. products
and services. States like Massachusetts and Oregon where environmental
companies are already clustered are ideal locations to try out the
regional center concept.
Finally, I wish to point out that the bill is consistent with the
administration's own environmental export strategy, which it released
last November at a ceremony in which representatives of Massachusetts
companies and I were pleased to participate. There is no doubt
Secretary Ron Brown and the Clinton administration recognize the need
to help U.S. companies promote their products and services overseas by
finding new and innovative ways for the Government and the private
sector to work together. Passage of this bill will help the
administration move its strategy forward.
I am proud to be associated with this legislation and urge my
colleagues to support its passage in the House.
Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
(Mr. GEJDENSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks, and include extraneous material.)
Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, the U.S. economy is littered with
industries that have fallen victim to unfair trade practices and to the
high levels of export assistance provided by other countries. For
decades, the U.S. Government simply waited too long to go to bat for
key sectors of our economy on the international trade front.
Today, we have an opportunity to work with the administration to
change this pattern of failure. In considering H.R. 3813, the
Environmental Export Promotion Act, Congress has an opportunity to help
ensure the continued vitality of the U.S. environmental sector in the
international marketplace. We also have an opportunity to protect jobs
here at home.
This legislation grew out of hearings held by the Subcommittee on
Economic Policy, Trade and Environment, which I chair. Unlike many of
the subcommittee's hearings, the Government and private-sector
witnesses actually arrived at strikingly similar conclusions.
First, the United States had a $4 billion trade surplus in the
environmental sector in 1990, but our major competitors are gaining
fast. The American environmental industry must not be allowed to lose
its competitive position.
Second, environmental exports not only help American firms and
American workers, but also help to protect the global environmental. We
all benefit from the diffusion on state-of-the-art environmental
technology to developing countries.
Third, the international market for environmental goods and services
is growing rapidly. It currently stands at $270 billion annually, and
is likely to grow to $400-$600 billion by the end of the decade.
If U.S. firms manage to capture 20 percent of the growth anticipated
in the overseas environmental market, an estimated 300,000 new American
jobs will be created over the next 7 years. In my home State of
Connecticut, for instance, increased envirotech exports will increase
employment at over 500 environmental firms throughout the State.
Based upon these three conclusions, I introduced the Environmental
Export Promotion Act, which is before the House today. I would like to
thank Representative Lee Hamilton and Representative Ben Gilman, the
chairman and ranking Republican member of the committee, for moving
this bill through the committee, as well as Representative Toby Roth
for his leadership on this issue.
I would also like to recognize the leadership of Representative Gerry
Studds, the chairman of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee,
and Representatives Elizabeth Furse, Maria Cantwell, and Jan Meyers,
all of whom joined me in introducing this legislation.
H.R. 3813, as amended, is designed to fine-tune the U.S. Government's
export promotion efforts to increase environmental exports. The bill,
in large part, is drawn from recommendations made by the administration
in its November 1993 report on this issue.
Since the Foreign Affairs Committee ordered H.R. 3813 reported, the
committee has made five minor changes in the text of the bill. At this
time, I would like to introduce into the Record an exchange of letters
between Chairman Hamilton and Chairman Dingell.
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Energy and Commerce,
Washington, DC, April 15, 1994.
Hon. Lee H. Hamilton,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of
Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Lee: Thank for your letter concerning H.R. 3813, the
``Environmental Export Promotion Act of 1994,'' which was
ordered reported by the Committee on Foreign Affairs on March
16, 1994.
As you indicated, the Committee on Energy and Commerce
requested sequential referral of the bill because it included
matters within the jurisdiction of this Committee. I
understand that you plan to offer an amended version when the
bill is considered on the suspension calendar. Those changes,
which have been worked out with this Committee, are welcome.
Accordingly, we will not insist on sequential referral. If,
as you note, the Senate does not accept the House bill as
amended and requests a conference, we understand that we
would be represented in that conference. I appreciate the
opportunity to work out these matters with you.
With every good wish.
Sincerely,
John D. Dingell,
Chairman.
____
U.S. Congress,
House Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, April 15, 1994.
Hon. John D. Dingell,
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Washington, DC.
Dear John: The Committee on Energy and Commerce has raised
various jurisdictional concerns regarding H.R. 3813, as
ordered reported by the Committee on Foreign Affairs on March
16, 1994.
Pursuant to discussions between the staff of our
committees, the text of H.R. 3813 to be considered by the
House contains several changes, reflected in the attached
text, from the amendment in the nature of a substitute that
the Committee on Foreign Affairs ordered reported. if the
Senate approves legislation with provisions in the areas in
which the Committees on Energy and Commerce has raised
concerns, the Committee on Foreign Affairs would not object
to the placement of conferees from the Energy and Commerce
Committee on those provisions of the Senate bill.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
Lee H. Hamilton,
Chairman.
Mr. GEJDENSON. H.R. 3813, as modified: establishes an Environment
Technologies Trade Advisory Committee to guide Federal environmental
export promotion activities; requires the annual designation of five
priority countries whose markets have the greatest potential for U.S.
environmental exports, and a plan to help U.S. firms capture those five
markets must then be developed; requires the Commerce Secretary to
place environmental specialists in the five priority markets;
authorizes international environmental initiatives to encourage other
regions to adopt American-style environmental standards and to buy U.S.
environmental products; establishes an environmental technologies
project advocacy calendar containing an updated list of all major
overseas environmental projects; and, authorizes the Secretary of
Commerce to provide matching funds for regional centers promoting
environmental exports.
The legislation will help to ensure that American environmental
companies remain on the cutting edge of the international environmental
marketplace. It will also help to create export-related jobs here at
home.
I urge my colleagues to support its passage.
{time} 1810
Mr. Speaker, before reserving my time, I would like to take this
opportunity to point out that one of the things that moved me in moving
this piece of legislation was when my colleague who now sits in the
chair, the gentleman from California [Mr. Miller], returned from the
International Conference on Environment in Brazil, with the great
frustration that he had, indicating that the Japanese were there
marketing their products while America virtually had no presence. We
need to make sure that in these areas where we have such a
technological advantage, that we stay active and get our products
known.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ROTH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, as a cosponsor of this legislation, the Environmental
Export Promotion Act, I join our chairman, the gentleman from
Connecticut [Mr. Gejdenson], in thanking the chairman of our full
committee, the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Hamilton], the gentleman
from New York [Mr. Gilman], the ranking member, and all those people
who have worked on this legislation. I also thank the chairman, the
gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. Gejdenson], for his kind remarks, and
the feeling is mutual.
Chairman Gejdenson shows real leadership on our subcommittee, and
that is one of the reasons that we have been able to pass, in the last
number of years, such legislation that has promoted so many jobs here
in America.
Mr. Speaker, this measure is the product of close bipartisan
cooperation among all the members of our Subcommittee on Economic
Policy.
This bill is in keeping with the focus of our subcommittee, which is
to create new jobs for American workers by expanding American exports,
because we realize if we want to have good jobs here in America, we
have got to be able to export our products.
In the last Congress, our subcommittee produced two measures that,
according to Commerce Department estimates, are adding 100,000 new jobs
for American workers. In this Congress, our subcommittee is again
working on legislation to create more jobs.
During the past year we held a series of hearings on how to add new
jobs by expanding our exports. The bill before us today is the first of
several measures that our subcommittee will bring to the House this
year to create jobs through exports.
In this bill, we strengthen the export promotion for environmental
technologies. As our hearings last year showed, the United States is a
world leader in environmental technology.
American companies now hold nearly half of the total world market--
which is now $300 billion a year.
So we talking about big money and big job opportunities. By the end
of the decade, this world market will double--to $600 billion a year.
But other nations have discovered this market.
Our competitors in this field--Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom,
and the Nordic countries--all are moving to increase their exports of
environmental technology. Their goal is to take market share away from
American exporters.
If American companies are to stay on top, then we have to strengthen
our own export promotion efforts.
The payoff is that if we can maintain our share of this rapidly
expanding market, we will add some 300,000 new jobs for American
workers.
Our bill reflects the findings of two recent authoritative reports:
One by the Office of Technology Assessment, and the second by an
interagency group headed by the Commerce Department.
As recommended, our bill has three key provisions: First, it requires
that export promotion assistance is targeted at the five top markets
for this technology.
This will give us the biggest return on our export promotion effort.
Second, our bill requires closer coordination of the Federal Export
Promotion Programs with State and local agencies.
Third, our bill strengthens the expertise available in our overseas
missions to our environmental technology exporters.
This will give American firms more help on the ground in these
overseas markets.
Finally, let me emphasize that this bill does not add any new Federal
spending.
Instead, it redirects existing resources into the field, to give us a
bigger return on our export promotion investment.
This is a well-crafted bill that will help our exporters and create
new jobs for American workers.
I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this measure.
Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield such time as she may
consume to the gentlewoman from the State of Washington [Ms. Cantwell],
who has really been one of the architects helping us to put this and a
number of other initiatives on the subcommittee together.
(Ms. CANTWELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding this
time to me.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to take a moment this afternoon to applaud
the manager of this legislation for his leadership. Mr. Gejdenson has
provided us with what I think will be one of the most important
economic bills impacting my State's environmental industries in this
session of Congress.
Mr. Speaker, there is no one in this body who better understands the
need to marry international environmental protection with the promotion
of our own environmental technology industries than Mr. Gejdenson. I am
pleased to be a cosponsor of this effort.
With the leadership of President Clinton, Vice President Gore, and
congressional leaders like Mr. Gejdenson and Mr. Roth and Mr. Gilman,
the ranking member of subcommittee and committee, I believe we have
finally reached an understanding that environmental protection and
economic growth are not mutually exclusive.
Increasingly, foreign nations and companies are relying on U.S.
environmental technology, products, and services to help them solve
environmental problems. By supporting environmental protection
internationally, we can create the very world markets that our
environmental technology firms need to grow and expand.
This is particularly true in my home State of Washington. Washington
has been a national leader in promoting its environmental technology
industry. Washington's environmental industry currently includes more
than 450 firms, employing 27,000 people with annual revenues estimated
at more than $3 billion.
These firms vary from solid and hazardous waste management to lab
testing and analysis.
This bill is strongly supported by environmental community and by
environmental technology companies. It incorporates the best steps we
can take today to help promote both environmental protection and
economic growth.
I urge my colleagues to support final passage.
Mr. ROTH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New
York [Mr. Gilman], the ranking member on our committee.
(Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. GILMAN. I thank the gentleman for yielding this time to me.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my support for this legislation
H.R. 3813 which should benefit American exporters of environmental
technology by identifying key overseas markets and by directing
Government agencies to provide hands on assistance to our companies
trying to enter those markets. I commend the gentleman from
Connecticut, the distinguished chairman of the Foreign Affairs
Committee of economic parity, Trade and Environment and its ranking
member, the gentleman from Wisconsin, [Mr. Roth] for their extensive
work in bringing this measure to the floor.
This legislation enacts proposals contained in the industry,
technology and environment study undertaken by the Office of Technology
Assessment and directs the administration to create regional
environmental initiatives.
One such initiative, the United States-Asia Environmental
Partnership, was created in 1989 under the Bush administration to
increase our environmental exports to Asian countries and to encourage
them to adopt compatible standards and technologies.
It is my understanding that the version of the legislation we are
considering today reflects the minor changes requested by the Energy
and Commerce Committee. To avoid a sequential referral of this
legislation, its provisions have been changed to include only those
entities and activities in the exclusive domain of the Foreign Affairs
Committee and to delete any superfluous reference to the trade
coordinating role of the Secretary of Commerce.
Accordingly, I urge the adoption of this legislation.
Mr. ROTH. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska [Mr.
Bereuter], and I thank him for the tremendous contribution he makes. He
does his homework, understands all the nuances of the bill and
amendments, and it is a real pleasure to yield to my friend from
Nebraska.
(Mr. BEREUTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. BEREUTER. I thank the gentleman for yielding this time to me.
Mr. Speaker, this Member rises in support of H.R. 3813, the
Environmental Export promotion Act. This legislation, better
coordinates the Federal Government's promotion of U.S. environmental
technology, goods, and services to the world's developing countries.
Mr. Speaker, the global market for environmental technology, goods,
and services is growing at an unprecedented rate. By the year 2000, the
OECD expects this infant market to reach $300 billion annually.
Although the United States has traditionally enjoyed a substantial
trade surplus in environmental technologies, goods, and services, other
industrialized countries including France, Germany, and Japan have also
recognized this lucrative and growing market and are aggressively
promoting their own environmental technology, goods, and services.
Mr. Speaker, our competitors are focusing their efforts on developing
countries where 95 percent of the world's population growth is expected
to occur in the next 30 years. They are aggressively competing for
emerging markets in China and India where one-third of the world's
population currently live and where 1 billion more people are expected
to live in 30 years. And Mr. Speaker, our competitors are directing
their efforts at the world's rapidly emerging megacities and urban
areas where over half of the world's population will live by the end of
the century.
Clearly, the greatest future demand for U.S. environmental exports,
including the services of U.S. engineers, scientists, and technicians,
will come from the developing world. Emerging megacities will
desperately need the housing, sanitation, transportation,
communication, and power generation facilities in order to prepare them
for the 21st century.
Unfortunately, while U.S. engineers, contractors, and exporters
already recognize this great potential, I am afraid that until recently
our Federal Government and our foreign policy initiatives for the
developing world have not sufficiently recognized this potential.
Therefore, Mr. Speaker, the Environmental Export Promotion Act is a
good first step toward the aggressive promotion of this leading U.S.
industrial sector. This legislation carefully refines our environmental
export promotion strategy by establishing an Environmental Technologies
Trade Advisory Committee to guide promotion activities and to designate
priority countries whose markets have the greatest potential for U.S.
environmental exports of services and goods.
Additionally, Mr. Speaker, the Environmental Trade Advisory Committee
will promote and encourage emerging markets to adopt U.S. environmental
standards, and it will monitor major overseas environmental projects so
it can quickly alert U.S. environmental technology, goods, and service
exporters to potential procurement and contract opportunities.
Mr. Speaker, the World Resources Institute recently predicted that
the United States would lose its competitive lead in environmental
technology if it failed to respond to the challenge of our foreign
competitors. Because we cannot afford to lose another vast and
lucrative market to foreign competition, this Member commends the
chairman of the House Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Economic Policy,
Trade, and the Environment, Mr. Gejdenson, and the ranking minority
member, Mr. Roth, for their farsighted and excellent work in crafting
this legislature to promote America's environmental exports.
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3813.
Ms. FURSE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3813,
the Environmental Export Promotion Act of 1994. I am an original
cosponsor of this important legislation which marks the culmination of
an effort which began a year ago when Chairman Studds of the Merchant
Marine and Fisheries Committee and I introduced the National
Environmental Trade Development Act, H.R. 2112. The intent of H.R. 2112
was to help U.S. companies increase exportation of environmental goods
and services across the globe, and bolster their already formidable
presence in this increasingly important market. We were greatly
assisted this year by the commitment and dedication to this issue of my
good friend from Connecticut, Mr. Gejdenson of the Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Trade, and the Environment. The
Environmental Export Promotion Act before the House today is the result
of our collaboration, and this bill is important because it proves that
protecting and enhancing our environment works hand-in-hand with job
creation. Because of this bill, countries all across the globe will no
longer be forced to look the other way when faced with serious
environmental problems; they will have American envirotech businesses
knocking on their door with solutions.
I would like to cite a few remarkable numbers with regard to job
creation and environmental technologies, goods, and services. In my
home State of Oregon, the 400 envirotech companies currently employ
nearly 14,000 people. Moreover, the average salary paid in the
envirotech field is around $31,000--nearly $9,000 higher than the next
closest industry. Both numbers will grow in the next 10 years. In fact,
all signs point to a boom before the turn of the century for U.S.
environmental technology companies. The global envirotech market is
currently worth $200 billion a year, and is expected to reach $600
billion over the next 6 years. Hundreds of American companies currently
have a substantial lead over their foreign competitors in the
production of environmental technologies, goods, and services. The
challenge we faced was to link all American envirotech businesses--from
large corporations to small, entrepreneurial start-ups--with
opportunities for success in the global marketplace. The bottom line is
that we needed to help these businesses that have created the new
technologies and services find direct access to the world markets that
are open for business. We needed--and this bill delivers--a clearly
defined national commitment to environmental technologies.
I have been concerned from the beginning that any environmental
technology legislation passed by this Congress be driven by the private
sector. No export strategy can be successful unless the private sector
has a primary role in its development. As the primary beneficiary of a
national environmental technology policy, businesses know what they
need to be successful. For too long, Government has either been too
intrusive or too hands-off. It is time to have a policy which
acknowledges that taxpayers deserve to get a return on their
investment, and that business has to be part of the solution. Business
executives and entrepreneurs are traveling the globe to clean up the
mess left behind by years of misuse and neglect. The Gejdenson-Studds-
Furse bill ensures that our role is to help--not hinder--these people
of vision.
I am pleased to report that this legislation achieves our laudable
goals in a number of important ways. First, the Environmental Export
Promotion Act increases American businesses' access to foreign
envirotech markets. It establishes a true public-private partnership to
ensure that Federal agencies and private business work in concert with
one another to tap these markets. It ensures that information is made
available to companies which can use it, and does so with a coordinated
approach. Lastly, this legislation establishes regional environmental
business and technology cooperation centers to provide technical
assistance to envirotech companies in their region. These centers will
help existing envirotech businesses in export promotion and foster
regional strengths within environmental trade.
Across the country, firms in the envirotech business are creating
associations and consortiums to help disseminate information about
global environmental opportunities. Businesses in Oregon and
Massachusetts, for example, are already working together to help foster
an informational network to promote envirotech. The Environmental
Export Promotion Act realizes the importance of these associations, and
works with the private sector to maximize these relationships. The
Oregon Environmental Technology Association [OETA] from my home State
has played an important role in the development of this legislation.
Personally, I would like to thank Bill Snyder of the OETA who has
contributed his expertise and his hard work to this effort.
I would also like to point out that in addition to working well with
the private sector, this bill is consistent with the administration's
environmental export strategy which was released last November. I have
spoken on a number of occasions with Vice President Gore about this
legislation; he is committed to environmental technology as part of our
Nation's future. I have had numerous discussions with the Department of
Commerce, including Secretary Brown, on how we can all work together on
a coordinated environmental export policy. Dr. Katherine Sullivan,
chair of the interagency environmental technologies exports working
group, did a great job in putting together the Commerce Department's
role in environmental trade. The Gejdenson-Studds-Furse bill fits in
perfectly with the goals of the working group and the efforts that have
been undertaken in the administration.
By the way, the legislation before us today will help crate literally
thousands of private-sector, high-wage jobs in our Nation by increasing
environmental exports. These are the types of jobs that prove that
helping our environment is not a zero-sum game. When you use
environmental technologies to help restore land which has been rendered
useless from contamination, for example, you pay the salaries of the
envirotech firms which develop effective environmental products or
services, you pay the salaries of the people who work and use that
technology to clean up the land, and the entire community regains an
asset. Investing in the development and export environmental
technologies, goods, and services is our future--both here in the
United States and the world.
I am proud to have committed so much of my time in my first term in
Congress to passage of this legislation. The Environmental Export
Promotion Act is our first step into the future, and I urge all my
colleagues to support passage of H.R. 3813, the Environmental Export
Promotion Act.
{time} 1820
Mr. ROTH. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I, too, have no further requests for
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Miller of California). The question is
on the motion offered by the gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. Gejdenson]
that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3813, as
amended.
The question was taken.
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 5, rule I, and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed until Tuesday, April 19, 1994.
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