[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 39 (Thursday, March 22, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E427]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       ADMINISTRATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IS JUST PLAIN WRONG

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                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 22, 2001

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my 
disgust over the Bush Administration's unwillingness to take the 
necessary steps to curb the effects of global warming and protect our 
natural resources. When our environment needs us most, it is sad that 
the President is abandoning our lakes and rivers, while siding with 
those who pollute our air.
  The Administration's recent shift in environmental policy contradicts 
its earlier promises and commitments to the American people and at the 
same time, undermines previous policy statements made by the 
Environmental Protection Agency. This Administration has made it clear 
that protecting the environment is not one of its priorities.
  This shift in policy, however, is not just another broken campaign 
pledge and promise to the citizens of South Florida and the rest of the 
American people. On the contrary, it is a clear example that the 
President's position on the environment is just plain wrong. Scientists 
and elected officials on both sides of the aisle agree that the key to 
ending global warming begins with reducing the amount of carbon dioxide 
emissions in the air we breathe. Even more, according to a recent 
survey, this common sense approach toward ending global warming is 
supported by 80 percent of the American public.
  Mr. Speaker, the people of South Florida know a great deal about the 
importance of taking care of the environment. It was no more than six 
months ago that I stood on this floor with many of my colleagues 
fighting for protection of Florida's most sacred ecosystem, the 
Everglades. Thankfully, after nearly a decade of planning and fighting, 
we reached an agreement that ensures the Everglades will be around for 
all Americans to enjoy for generations to come.
  Today, I am once again coming to the floor to fight for the 
protection of our country's greatest treasures. The current Bush 
Administration plan to conduct exploratory drilling for oil in Alaska's 
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is not only an action that will destroy 
the last remaining parcel of untouched Arctic coastline, it is also 
just bad energy policy. It is widely accepted that roughly 3.2 billion 
barrels of economically recoverable oil can be found under the ANWR. 
Those 3.2 billion barrels, however, represent a mere six-month supply 
of oil for the United States, hardly enough to build an effective 
energy policy around.
  What worries me, Mr. Speaker, is not the exploration into a new 
energy policy. Clearly our country needs to look into new ways of 
creating energy. I support looking into new possibilities for creating 
energy. But I do not support the exploration of new energy 
opportunities at the cost of the environment. If we begin drilling in 
the ANWR today, who is to say that we will not begin off-shore drilling 
in South Florida tomorrow? I assure you, Mr. Speaker, that the people 
of Florida have no desire to see off-shore oil rigs popping up in the 
Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico anytime soon. We saw the dangers 
involved in such practices when an off-shore oil rig in Brazil 
collapsed just this week spilling oil for miles into the Atlantic.
  In the past two weeks, President Bush reaffirmed to the American 
public that he is not serious about leading an environmentally 
conscious Administration. Mr. Speaker, I am not suggesting that 
President Bush become a devout environmentalist. After all, you do not 
have to be an environmentalist to care about the environment. So far 
though, this Administration has yet to take any steps to show that it 
recognizes the basic needs of our environment. In a time that the 
environment has taken center stage as a national concern, the people of 
America demand and deserve more from this Administration.

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