[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 192 (Tuesday, December 5, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2284-E2285]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROPOSING CUTBACKS IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY REGARDING THE OZONE LAYER

                                 ______


                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 5, 1995

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, according to Tom DeLay, House majority whip, 
``What has happened over the last 10 to 20 years is the environmental 
extremists have had their way with regulators and with Congress and 
they've gone way beyond reasonableness and common sense''--October 8 
Houston Chronicle.
  In support of this argument, Mr. DeLay has introduced a bill to lift 
the ban on the chemicals covered by the ozone-layer ban and other 
substances. In the October 27 Washington Post, DeLay, a former 
exterminator, was quoted as saying ``the science underlying the CFC ban 
is debatable'' and the agreement to terminate the use of CFC's ``is the 
result of a media scare.''
  A couple of weeks later, the Royal Swedish Academy of Science 
announced this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded for work 
that led to the international ban on chemicals believed to be depleting 
the Earth's protective ozone layer. These scientists discovered that 
when chlorofluorocarbons [CFC's], standard coolants in refrigerators 
and air-conditioners, leak, they rise heavenward and destroy ozone 
molecules that shield the Earth from the Sun.
  As you know, in 1985, scientists confirmed the existence of a hole in 
the ozone layer over Antarctica. This ecological crisis spurred more 
than 120 countries to negotiate and approve the Montreal Protocol on 
Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, which President Reagan signed 
in 1987. In 1989, Congress enacted a tax on ozone-depleting chemicals--
CFC's or chlorofluorocarbons--to provide an economic incentive to 
reduce production and use of these destructive substances. This tax has 
very successfully accelerated the phase-out of harmful chemicals while 
at the same time it has spurred development of ozone-safe alternatives.
  However, Tom DeLay, the House majority whip, remains unconvinced. In 
the November 4 Houston Chronicle, DeLay said the Nobel Prize has not 
changed his opinion that the ban on the chemicals to protect the ozone 
layer was the result of media scare. In a separate interview, one of 
the three Nobel winners for ozone-depletion research, Mario Molina of 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said such charges evidently 
result from DeLay's lack of knowledge * * * and that all I can say is 
it's ignorance, real ignorance. DeLay was also quoted as saying that 
Sweden--where the Nobel program is based--is an extremist country, and 
the award to Molina and the two other scientists was nothing more than 
the Nobel appeasement prize linked to a Swedish agenda.
  DeLay said the Nobel Prize notwithstanding, he and a number of 
scientists are not persuaded by the Chicken Little theory that ozone 
depletion is being caused by CFC's or other manmade materials, or that 
there would be substantial negative effects even if that happened.
  DeLay said his University of Houston biology degree and his many 
years of dealing with chemicals as owner of a pest-control company 
enable him to interpret scientific findings, including emerging 
research that calls the CFC ban into question.
  To support a ban on chemicals to protect the ozone layer, he said he 
would want to see ``a direct correlation'' between CFC's and ozone 
depletion, and also ``make sure the so-called UV [ultraviolet] 
radiation that's supposed to make people drop like flies is actually 
making people drop like flies.
  Common sense dictates that waiting for this degree of evidence is 
waiting too long. A person doesn't need to wait for a brick to drop on 
his head before he believes it would hurt. The proof that Mr. DeLay 
requires is exactly the type of catastrophe that current legislation 
regarding ozone-depleting chemicals was enacted to prevent.
  Normally, I would not take this type of know-nothingness seriously. 
However, with the new Republicans and their antienvironment. Contract 
With America it appears they are not 

[[Page E 2285]]
going to let real ignorance stand in the way of attacking environmental 
policy, policy which was supported by Republican Presidents Ronald 
Reagan and George Bush. Therefore, it is very important that we 
continue to rally support from the scientific community, environmental 
groups, and our constituents in opposition to this type of real 
ignorance so that we may preserve our Nation's and the world's most 
precious commodity, the environment.

                          ____________________