[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 16, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E368-E369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    THE INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 3970, THE GREEN CHEMISTRY RESEARCH AND 
                        DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PHIL GINGREY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 16, 2004

  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to introduce an important 
piece of legislation, ``The Green Chemistry Research and Development 
Act of 2004.'' Many of you may wonder, what is green chemistry? So I 
will start with a brief explanation. Chemical manufacturing is the 
source of many products upon which we depend such as medicines, 
plastics, fuels, and fabrics. However, chemical manufacturing has also 
resulted in harm to the environment and human health. The goal of green 
chemistry is to minimize or, ideally, to eliminate this harm. It is 
defined as the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or 
eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances. By factoring 
hazard in to the design of products and processes, chemists can design 
chemicals to be safe, just as they can design them to have other 
properties, such as color or texture.
  Many private sector industries have recognized the potential of green 
chemistry. Along

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with its inherent human health and environmental advantages, green 
chemistry can offer many economic advantages. This is because the costs 
of separating waste from products, complying with regulations, 
disposing of hazardous wastes and liability protection can be large. 
Preventing pollution and waste in the first place is often cheaper than 
mitigating and cleaning it up later.
  In my State, Georgia, Shaw Industries, Inc. is showing tremendous 
returns on their investment in green chemistry. Shaw Industries, Inc. 
produces carpet tile from their EcoWorx TM compound, which 
is made from non-toxic starting materials. The carpet tiles are fully 
recyclable, and Shaw has started to receive the first generation of 
carpet tiles, introduced in 1999, back in the factory for recycling. 
Shaw has found that the cost of collection, transportation, and 
recycling is less than making new carpet tiles from virgin raw 
materials. Even before Shaw recycled a single carpet tile, they 
benefited from their investment in green manufacturing. By switching 
from traditional carpet tile backing to EcoWorx TM, Shaw cut 
the energy needed to produce carpet tiles in half.
  Green chemistry offers other advantages in the areas of worker 
safety, public safety, and national security. For example, many 
chemical processes are conducted at extreme temperature and/or 
pressure, two conditions that present a risk for workers. Also, many 
chemical processes involve toxic substances. Green chemistry aims to 
design processes that can be conducted at or near room temperature and 
pressure, and that use benign materials. Both of these steps improve 
working conditions for employees. Chemical factories also pose a 
potential threat to public safety because of the possibility of an 
accidental release of toxic materials into the surrounding communities. 
Green chemistry seeks to replace these toxic substances with safe ones, 
which would not pose a threat to the public if accidentally released. 
Reducing the number of toxic chemical plants and the transport of toxic 
chemicals also improves national security by reducing the number of 
potential terrorist targets.
  Yet despite all of the promise of green chemistry, the Federal 
government invests very little in this area. The most notable effort is 
a small grant program run jointly by the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Green chemistry 
research in this program is funded at about $4 million dollar per year. 
The Department of Energy (DOE) and National Institute for Standards and 
Technology (NIST) also do a small amount of green chemistry research, 
however the Federal investment in green chemistry is minimal as 
compared to the overall investment in chemistry. In addition, each of 
these agencies has an important role to play in developing green 
chemistry technologies and facilitating their adoption; however, right 
now, there is little coordination among agencies.
  The Green Chemistry Research and Development Act establishes an 
interagency research and development (R&D) program to promote and 
coordinate Federal green chemistry research, development, 
demonstration, education and technology transfer activities. The 
Program would support R&D grants, including grants for university-
industry partnerships, support green chemistry research at Federal 
labs, promote education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and 
collect and disseminate information about green chemistry. NSF and EPA 
would lead an Interagency Working Group to coordinate these activities. 
The Working Group would also include DOE and NIST, as well as any other 
agency the President designates. The program is authorized at $26 
million in Fiscal Year 2005 rising to $30 million in Fiscal Year 2007 
from sums otherwise authorized to be appropriated. This bill does not 
authorize the expenditure of new money.
  I think that this bill provides modest and prudent funding in an area 
that deserves greater Federal attention. I look forward to working with 
my colleagues on the Science Committee, the Administration, and all 
other interested stakeholders to enact this important legislation.

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