[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 49 (Thursday, April 8, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3964-S3965]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE ENVIRONMENT

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Madam President, in 2 weeks, this Nation will celebrate 
Earth Day. The first Earth Day was in 1970, 34 years ago. For three and 
a half decades, people from all walks of life have gathered on April 22 
to celebrate the environment.
  Since the first Earth Day, our Nation has had seven Presidents, 
including our current leader, President Bush. Four of the six former 
Presidents were Republicans: President Nixon, President

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Ford, President Reagan, and former President Bush.
  Each of these former Presidents has left their mark on our Nation's 
environment. For the next 10 minutes, I want to review the major policy 
and legislative accomplishments--and there were many--of these former 
Presidents.
  At the same time, I will point out what the administration--the 
current Bush administration--is doing to that legacy left by four 
former Presidents.
  That contrast is stark. Many of you would be surprised to learn that 
President Nixon's lasting policy legacy may well be on the environment. 
President Nixon signed into law some of the most comprehensive and 
sweeping environmental laws. Here is a list on this chart: National 
Environmental Protection Act, which was the basis for a lot of these 
situations; the Clean Air Act; the Clean Water Act; Endangered Species 
Act; Marine Mammal Protection Act; and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
  We would all agree this is an impressive list. For the sake of time, 
I will not read the list for each of the subsequent three Republican 
Presidents. But the list is, in some cases, equally impressive.
  Let's look at President Ford. The chart shows his greatest 
environmental accomplishment may be the Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act. The bill helped reduce our Nation's solid waste output 
and has increased reuse and recycling.
  Now let's go to President Reagan's list on this chart. This is 
amazing to some of us who didn't think we necessarily were doing much. 
The list includes: the Endangered Species Act; Safe Drinking Water Act; 
Clean Water Act reintroduced; Hazardous and Solid Waste Act, amending 
RCRA; Safe Drink Water Act amended; Superfund Amendments and 
Reauthorization Act; Nuclear Waste Policy Act; Water Resources 
Development Act, and the Lacy Act amended.
  They all built great environmental records that make all of us proud. 
I was Republican at the time, and we were proud of the environmental 
record these Presidents produced.
  Now I want to go back to President Bush, senior, for a moment. His 
list was fairly solid. His greatest environmental achievement may have 
been the Clean Air Act. Being on that committee at the time, I was 
involved in negotiating these changes. It wasn't easy. Sometimes we all 
have to give a little to get a lot. But there were results from his 
efforts.
  Now we come to the current President Bush. Remember, we are simply 
looking at Republican Presidents and their significant environmental 
records. We are not going to the Democratic Presidents. Let's look at 
his chart. There it is. There is nothing there. It is blank. There is 
not one legislative accomplishment of importance on the environmental 
issue. None.

  I bet you would like to know what they have been doing for the last 4 
years on environmental policy. Or maybe you would not. I will tell you 
anyway.
  The Bush administration has been at war with the Clean Air Act. The 
Bush administration has proposed to gut the Clean Water Act. The Bush 
administration has bankrupted Superfund, ending the cleanup of toxic 
waste sites. The Bush administration has slashed funding for drinking 
water and wastewater. The Bush administration has slowed and almost 
shut down environmental enforcement.
  The next chart--need I continue?
  Here is President Bush's record. What are these on the chart? These 
are environmental rollbacks. If we can take a look at this chart, it 
says: Weakening the new source review section of the Clean Air Act; no 
Federal oversight on the cleanup of nearly 300,000 miles of rivers and 
5 million acres of lakes; delays in requiring national pollutant 
discharge elimination system permits; opens more public land for toxic 
waste dumps; loosens regulations on mercury emissions; exempts Pentagon 
from the ESA and MMPA rules; exemptions from Montreal Protocol for the 
pesticide methylbromide; withdrew the TMLL rule set to take effect 
under the Clean Water Act; increased fuel efficiency standards by a 
mere 1.5 miles per gallon over 3 years; capped wilderness designation 
at 22.8 million acres nationwide, no more; Clear Skies plan curbs 
mercury emissions to only 2 to 14 tons reduction by 2010; does not 
pursue legal investigations of polluting facilities accused of 
violating Clean Air Act and water standards; also, they have 
underfunded Superfund.
  The administration has a growing credibility gap, maybe even a 
credibility chasm on air pollution policy and environmental policy in 
general. I believe the President has lost the trust of the American 
people when it comes to the environment.
  There are opportunities for him to rebuild this trust, but I doubt 
that any of the suggestions that have been given will be taken 
seriously.
  When this President came into office, I had the greatest hopes that 
we could all work together to solve the problems facing the American 
public. But to put it mildly, I have been greatly disappointed.
  The former Presidents I mentioned earlier built a legacy of 
environmental progress. This legacy is being dismantled. We can only 
hope that a future President will look back and work to rebuild our 
environmental protections to make sure this Nation can go on to a 
better and a healthier future.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, what is the parliamentary situation?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority controls just under 11 minutes in 
morning business.
  Mr. LEAHY. I thank the distinguished Presiding Officer. As always, it 
is good to see her, a longtime friend of our family, and I appreciate 
her service to this body.

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