[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 25, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6382-S6383]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CLEANING THE AIR

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, for the past 5 months, we have been 
engaged in a troubling debate on how best to protect the health of our 
children, our elderly and our environment. Since the Environmental 
Protection Agency announced the proposed new standards for air quality, 
we have witnessed an unprecedented campaign by industry to block these 
new standards. Opponents instantly attacked the goals rather than 
sitting down to work with Congress and the administration on how to 
achieve these goals in a reasonable and cost-effective timeframe. I 
applaud EPA Administrator Carol Browner for standing up against the 
onslaught of industry backlash on the new standards. Today, President 
Clinton showed equal commitment by supporting the thrust of 
Administrator Browner's recommendation. This decision will reduce the 
smog and soot that drifts into Vermont from outside the State. I 
congratulate President Clinton for standing up for the health of our 
children and our environment. We can now begin the process of finding 
the most cost-effective means of implementing these standards.
  In Vermont, we recognize the benefits of high environmental 
standards. Over the years, conservationists and the business community 
have worked together to protect the environment. Vermonters know that a 
healthy environment promotes a healthy economy. Yet despite our 
commitment, Vermont and other Northeastern States have become the 
dumping ground for pollution that seeps across our borders each night 
with the wind. The new ozone standard makes the biggest pollutors 
accountable and will reduce the burden on States in the Northeast in 
their battle to maintain our high standards for air quality. Acid rain 
taught us that tough State environmental standards were not enough to 
protect us. We saw some of our healthiest forests die off from 
pollution borne from outside our region. This situation demands tough 
national environmental standards to ensure a level playing field.
  The new air standards will address two central issues: Where the smog 
and soot is landing and how to use new scientific evidence to continue 
improving efforts to protect public health. We learned from the acid 
rain debate that emissions from dirty coal-fired powerplants in the 
Midwest can be transported farther than 500 miles. More than 40 percent 
of the pollution in Vermont is from outside the state. We also know 
that utility restructuring will encourage increased generation at the 
powerplants in the Midwest. The new standards proposed by EPA will 
reduce the smog and soot that drifts into Vermont from these 
powerplants. Today's decision is a clear victory for the Northeast 
because we now have a standard that will reduce air pollution at its 
source.
  Since the passage of the Clean Air Act we have made considerable 
strides in reducing some pollutants. The level of lead pollution we and 
our children breathe today is one-tenth what it was a decade ago. That 
figure by itself is a tribute to the success of the original Clean Air 
Act. If we learned one thing from the acrimonious debate in Congress 
last year on environmental issues, it is that the American people do 
not want to halt the progress we have made and merely rest on our 
environmental laurels. Americans want to keep moving forward on 
cleaning up our environment. Unfortunately, as I listen to the debate 
on the Clean Air Act this Congress, I fear that we are not heeding 
their call. Instead of looking at ways to strengthen the Clean Air Act, 
we are trying to undercut the existing regulations.
  Today, the President recognized the 130 million Americans in 170 
major cities who continue to breathe unhealthy air. Congress should 
listen as well and approve the standards. I will work with my 
colleagues in the

[[Page S6383]]

Senate to oppose efforts to block the implementation of these new 
standards. Members of the House of Representatives have already 
launched their attack on the standards by introducing legislation to 
block the President's decision and weaken these standards. It is 
important to Vermont and to the Nation that we set aside the 
acrimonious debate that occurred on these standards and work together 
to develop a cost-effective implementation plan.
  The recommendations of the Ozone Transport Assessment Group that were 
approved by 32 States lay out several concrete steps to clean up our 
air in the Northeast. I challenge Administrator Browner and the 
administration to move quickly on these recommendations. In particular, 
I want Congress and the administration to look at what probably has 
become one of the largest loopholes in the Clean Air Act: Allowing the 
dirtiest power plants to continue to operate with vastly inadequate 
pollution controls. The need to go back and close this loophole now--in 
this session of Congress--assumes greater urgency because of the 
deregulation of the electric utility industry.
  Tomorrow's United Nations conference on the environment reminds us 
that we share the air, the water and our planet. There can be no 
greater legacy that we leave behind for our children and grandchildren 
than a society secure in its commitment to a healthy and 
environmentally sound future.

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