[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 20, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H2170-H2172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       UNHAPPY EARTH DAY FOR EPA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to mention another mistake that 
President Bush has made: His mistake in forgetting that protecting our 
environment is a bipartisan effort that for 30 years has put people 
over polluters and public health over profits.
  President Bush forgot that both Earth Day and the Environmental 
Protection Agency were born in 1970, created from the bipartisan 
resolve to clean up and protect our environment. As we prepare to mark 
Earth Day on April 22, the unhappy consequences of the President's 
mistakes are clear. The Bush administration is undermining EPA's years 
of hard-won achievements in carrying out and enforcing our Nation's 
bipartisan environmental laws.
  EPA's mission is to protect human health and safeguard the natural 
environment, air, water and land. The Bush administration is retreating 
from EPA's mission and instead making politically driven decisions that 
benefit polluters at the expense of the American public. At a time when 
we should be strengthening our environmental protections, the Bush 
administration has taken steps to weaken our environmental protections 
and the enforcement of our existing environmental laws.

[[Page H2171]]

  Rolling back bipartisan environmental protection is President Bush's 
mistake, but it is not an accident. There is a deliberate, systematic 
three-step plan from this administration.
  Step one is to try to pass weak environmental legislation. Step two 
is to seek to weaken Agency regulations. And if all else fails, step 
three is to cut the enforcement budget to disable Agency compliance 
efforts.
  A quick review of the administration's failures to clean up air 
pollution highlight the trends. EPA should be taking action to clean up 
mercury pollution from power plants, but the Bush administration has 
failed to take that action. Mercury pollution has poisoned the fish in 
millions of acres of our lakes and thousands of miles of our streams. 
And according to EPA scientists, approximately 630,000 infants are born 
in the United States each year with blood mercury levels at an unsafe 
level.
  As required by the Clean Air Act in December of 2000, EPA determined 
that it was appropriate and necessary to regulate mercury emissions 
from power plants, the single largest source of mercury in the United 
States. But in December of 2003, when the Bush administration's EPA 
released its proposal for controlling mercury, it was shockingly 
inadequate. The Clean Air Act requires a much larger reduction in 
mercury pollution in much less time than the Bush EPA proposal.
  Tellingly the Bush proposal is exactly what the power industry 
wanted. In fact, parts of the administration's mercury proposal were 
literally copied from memos prepared by industry lobbyists. Last 
month's Los Angeles Times article revealed that EPA staff were not told 
to perform studies on the costs and public health benefits of more 
stringent mercury reduction proposals, even though such studies were 
requested by the expert panel tasked with recommending an appropriate 
regulation. Also shocking is that the White House apparently made 
considerable changes to the EPA's mercury proposal before its release, 
minimizing the health risk of mercury exposure.
  In addition, the Bush administration has failed to require power 
plants to install modern pollution controls. In August 2003, the Bush 
EPA finalized a rule that significantly weakens the Clean Air Act by 
allowing thousands of old power plants to make upgrades to their plants 
without installing pollution controls. If EPA's rule stands up to 
current legal challenges, these power plants and factories will be 
allowed to continue to pollute the air with no responsibility for the 
resulting damage to the American people. According to technical studies 
using EPA models, the result will be at least 4,300 premature deaths 
and at least 80,000 asthma attacks each year that could otherwise be 
prevented by simply requiring modern pollution controls.
  EPA should be taking action to address global warming, but the Bush 
administration has refused to address this important issue. A report by 
the U.S. National Research Council commissioned by the Bush 
administration confirmed that greenhouse gases are increasing the 
temperatures of the Earth's air and oceans primarily caused by human 
activity. There is overwhelming evidence that greenhouse gases must be 
reduced in order to slow global warming, yet in March 2001, the Bush 
administration refused to take any responsibility for reducing global 
warming when it rejected the Kyoto Protocol.
  The administration then announced last summer that EPA does not have 
the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, 
reversing a Bush campaign promise and a legal opinion issued by the EPA 
general counsel under the Clinton administration. Rather than taking 
real action, the Bush administration's answer to air pollution has been 
to introduce the so-called Clear Skies Initiative, which environmental 
experts say would actually result in weaker standards for controlling 
pollution from power plants than existing laws being enforced.
  The administration's failure to enforce environmental law extends 
beyond the Clean Air Act. The EPA's own research shows that polluters 
are egregiously violating the Clean Water Act. According to EPA data, 
60 percent of large facilities across the country exceeded their Clean 
Water Act permit at least once between January of 2002 and June of 
2003. Large facilities that exceed their permits are dumping on average 
six times more pollution into our waterways than they are allowed. In 
spite of these facts, EPA's enforcements of the Clean Water Act are 
declining.
  Mr. Speaker, we must take action to clean up our air and water 
pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA must be 
empowered and provided the resources to carry out its mission. And this 
is one mistake that the Bush administration must correct, if not for 
ourselves, but for future generations who deserve the opportunity to 
look back on Earth Day 2004 from the perspective of a cleaner and 
stronger environment.
  Both Earth Day and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were 
born in 1970, created from the need to clean up and protect our 
environment. While Earth Day draws public awareness, EPA is the federal 
agency ultimately responsible for the day-to-day protection of our 
environment. On this Earth Day, I think it fitting to examine the way 
the Bush Administration is undermining EPA's years of hard-won 
achievements in carrying out and enforcing our nation's bipartisan 
environmental laws.
  EPA's mission is to, ``protect human health and safeguard the natural 
environment-air, water, and land . . .'' The Bush Administration is 
retreating from EPA's mission and instead making politically driven 
decisions that benefit polluters at the expense of the American public. 
At a time when we should be strengthening our environmental 
protections, the Bush Administration has taken steps to weaken our 
environmental protections and the enforcement of our existing 
environmental laws.
  There seems to be a three-step plan from this Administration: try to 
pass weak environmental legislation, seek to weaken agency regulations 
and if all else fails, cut the enforcement budget to disable agency 
compliance efforts.
  A quick review of the Administration's failure to clean up air 
pollution highlights the trend.
  EPA should be taking action to clean up mercury pollution from power 
plants, but the Bush Administration has failed to do so. Mercury 
pollution has poisoned the fish in millions of acres of our lakes and 
thousands of miles of our streams. According to EPA scientists, 
approximately 630,000 infants are born in the United States each year 
with blood mercury levels at an unsafe level.
  As required by the Clean Air Act, in December 2000, EPA determined 
that it was appropriate and necessary to regulate mercury emissions 
from power plants, the single largest source of mercury in the United 
States. In December 2003, when EPA released its proposal for 
controlling mercury, it was shockingly inadequate. The Clean Air Act 
requires a much larger reduction in mercury pollution, in much less 
time, than EPA's proposal.
  Tellingly, this proposal is exactly what the power industry wanted. 
In fact, parts of the Administration's mercury proposal were literally 
copied from memos prepared by industry lobbyists. Last month's Los 
Angeles Times article revealed that EPA staff were told not to perform 
studies on the costs and public health benefits of more stringent 
mercury reduction proposals even though such studies were requested by 
the expert panel tasked with recommending an appropriate regulation. 
Also shocking is that the White House apparently made considerable 
changes to EPA's mercury proposal before its release, minimizing the 
health risks of mercury exposure.
  In addition, the Bush Administration has failed to require power 
plants to install modern pollution controls. In August 2003, EPA 
finalized a rule that significantly weakens the Clean Air Act by 
allowing thousands of old power plants to make upgrades to their plants 
without installing pollution controls. If EPA's rule stands up to 
current legal challenges, these power plants and factories will be 
allowed to continue polluting the air with no responsibility for the 
resulting damage to the American people. According to technical studies 
using EPA models, the result will be at least 4,300 premature deaths 
and at least 80,000 asthma attacks each year that could otherwise be 
prevented by simply requiring modern pollution controls.

  EPA should be taking action to address global warming but the Bush 
Administration has refused to address this important issue. A report by 
the U.S. National Research Council, commissioned by the Bush 
Administration, confirmed that greenhouse gases are increasing the 
temperatures of the earth's air and oceans, primarily caused by human 
activity. There is overwhelming evidence that greenhouse gases must be 
reduced in order to slow global warming.
  Yet, in March 2001, the Bush Administration refused to take any 
responsibility for reducing global warming when it rejected the Kyoto 
Protocol. The Administration then announced

[[Page H2172]]

last summer that EPA does not have the authority to regulate carbon 
dioxide and other greenhouse gases, reversing a Bush campaign promise 
and a legal opinion issued by the EPA General Counsel under the Clinton 
Administration.
  Rather than taking real action, the Bush Administration's answer to 
air pollution has been to introduce its so-called ``Clear Skies'' 
initiative, which environmental experts say would actually result in 
weaker standards for controlling pollution from power plants than fully 
enforcing existing law.
  Bruce Buckheit, former Director of EPA's Air Enforcement Division, 
states he is, ``deeply troubled by the current state of federal 
environmental enforcement,'' and noted the program is now ``on life 
support.''
  ``Commencing with the creation of the Office of Enforcement and 
Compliance in 1994 and accelerating in the 1996-2000 timeframe,'' Mr. 
Buckheit said, ``EPA was building a robust enforcement program that 
targeted and prosecuted the most serious environmental scofflaws. . . . 
These violations involved significant unlawful emissions with 
identifiable adverse health impacts. Appropriate resolution of these 
violations would result in a reduction in national pollution levels--
not by a few tons--but by several million tons per year and save 
thousands of lives each year.''
  ``We were embarked on a vigorous program that was beginning to show 
results,'' Mr. Buckheit said. ``Within 90 days of the departure of the 
prior Administration, the Bush Administration began transmitting a 
clear message to industry that there was a new Sheriff in town--a 
Sheriff that did not intend to prosecute these kinds of cases.''
  The Administration's failure to enforce environmental laws extends 
beyond the Clean Air Act. EPA's own research shows that polluters are 
egregiously violating the Clean Water Act. According to EPA data, 60 
percent of large facilities across the country exceeded their Clean 
Water Act permit at least once between January of 2002 and June of 
2003. Large facilities that exceed their permits are dumping, on 
average, six times more pollution into our waterways than what they are 
allowed. In spite of these facts, EPA's enforcement of the Clean Water 
Act is declining.
  For fiscal year 2005, the Administration proposes cutting EPA's 
overall budget by $606 million. This will result in over 2,600 fewer 
inspections for violations of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and 
other environmental laws than were conducted in fiscal year 2000.
  I commend EPA's dedicated professionals who have, through hard work, 
made significant progress in cleaning up air and water pollution. 
Unfortunately, I believe the Bush Administration is undermining the 
ability of EPA staff to do their jobs effectively. As Mr. Buckheit 
notes,EPA employees are ready and willing to enforce the law but ``the 
White House will not tolerate more than tokenism when it comes to 
environmental law enforcement.''
  The Bush Administration continues to put the interests of polluters 
first, undercutting EPA's tools for protecting our air, water, and 
land. The federal government owes a responsibility to all Americans to 
strengthen, not weaken, our environment. We must take action to clean 
up air and water pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. EPA 
must be empowered--and provided the resources--to carry out is mission. 
Future generation deserve the opportunity to look back at Earth Day 
2004 from the perspective of a cleaner and stronger environment.

                          ____________________