[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 53 (Thursday, April 22, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4289-S4291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CELEBRATING EARTH DAY 2004

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, since the first Earth Day on April 22, 
1970, we have celebrated this day as an annual occasion on which to 
examine our Nation's environmental policies.
  Sadly, there is little to celebrate in terms of environmental 
protection this year and much to worry about.
  Just last week, we learned that 474 counties throughout our Nation 
failed to meet air quality standards set by the Environmental 
Protection Agency. A total of 159 million people--more than half the 
Nation's population--live in these communities.
  In my home State of California nearly 90 percent of State residents 
live in areas with unhealthy levels of smog. That means that 90 percent 
of Californians are at increased risk of asthma, reduced lung function 
and chronic lung diseases.
  What is also alarming is that eight national parks, four of which are 
in California, contain excessively high levels of ozone.
  Can you believe that the air in Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and 
Joshua Tree National Parks is harmful to your health?
  And then there is the gravest threat to our environment and 
ultimately, our health--global warming. Climate change is the most 
important environmental issue facing us today.
  I would like to take a minute now to talk about a likely impact of 
climate change that has not received very much attention--its effect on 
our water supplies.
  The evidence is growing that climate change threatens water supplies 
throughout the western United States--and especially on the West Coast.
  Just recently, researchers at the University of California at Santa 
Cruz analyzed the impact of global warming on Arctic Sea ice.
  What they found was that higher temperatures will cause Arctic Sea 
ice to melt which will, in turn, reduce the west coast's water supply.
  According to the Santa Cruz scientists' models, melting sea ice will 
create columns of warmer air that change air flow in the atmosphere and 
deflect storms and needed precipitation away from Western U.S. lands.
  Forecasts indicate that Arctic Sea ice may shrink by up to 50 percent 
in summer months by the year 2050. This could have truly devastating 
consequences for our Nation's water supplies.
  Under the UC-Santa Cruz researchers' models, in 2050, the West Coast, 
from southern British Columbia to southern California, could receive 30 
percent less rain than it does now.
  And this is not just a problem for California. The research models 
show that the melting ice could decrease precipitation as far inland as 
the Rocky Mountains.
  The water infrastructure in the West, particularly in California, is 
already stretched to the limit this year. Even now we are struggling to 
provide enough water for our communities, farms, forests, fish, and 
wildlife. What would we do with 30 percent less precipitation?
  The Santa Cruz study is not the only one forecasting reduced water 
supplies in the West. In fact, many global and regional statistical 
models agree that the West will see reduced snowpack as a result of 
rising temperatures.

  Under those models, California and the West will receive more winter 
rain and less snow meaning two things for Western States--increased 
flooding in the winter and water shortages in the summer.
  We are not talking about minor effects.
  In February of this year, scientists at the Pacific Northwest 
National Laboratory forecasted reductions in snowpack of up to 70 
percent in the coastal mountains over the next 50 years as a direct 
result of warming temperatures.
  In the West, our water infrastructure is based on the gradual melting 
of snowpack throughout the spring and summer. A 70-percent decline in 
snowpack would be catastrophic.
  The evidence is also mounting that climate change threatens not only 
our water supplies, but also global biodiversity.
  A report published in the January edition of the British journal 
Nature estimates that 25 percent of Earth's plant and animal species 
will be wiped out in the next 50 years if global temperatures continue 
to rise as expected.
  This means that more than 1 million of the estimated 5 million land 
species could face extinction within our children's and grandchildren's 
lifetimes.
  It is time to take global warming seriously and reduce our greenhouse 
gas emissions. The consequences of delaying and deferring decisions are 
severe.
  As a country with only 4 percent of the world's population, but which 
produces 25 percent of carbon dioxide

[[Page S4290]]

emissions, the United States has a responsibility to act.
  And yet, there are many steps we can take--steps which are broadly 
supported--that will help protect the environment.
  For example, we should continue to promote the production and use of 
hybrid cars. A few simple steps such as opening up carpool lanes and 
municipal parking spaces to hybrid cars will encourage motorists to buy 
these environmentally friendly automobiles.
  Congress should also act to bring corporate average fuel economy 
standards of light-duty trucks and SUVs in line with the requirements 
for cars.
  This one action alone could save a million barrels of oil a day and 
prevent about 200 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the 
atmosphere each year.
  We also know that investments to improve the environment like these 
pay off.
  A study released by the President's Office of Management and Budget 
last fall found that the social and health benefits of enforcing strong 
clean-air regulations were five to seven times greater than the costs 
of adhering to the rules.
  The study estimated that, during the 10-year period from October 1992 
to September 2002, between $120 billion and $193 billion were saved in 
reduced hospital stays, emergency room visits, premature deaths and 
lost workdays as a result of improved air quality.
  Just as we have asked so many nations around the world to assist us 
in the war on terror and in securing and rebuilding Iraq, so, too, 
should we help those nations who want our assistance in addressing 
global environmental problems.
  On this 35th Earth Day we are reminded here in the Congress of the 
importance of protecting the planet for future generations.
  It is my hope that we will step up and meet this responsibility.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today marks the 34th anniversary of the 
designation of April 22 as Earth Day. It is fitting to contemplate the 
words of former Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, who, in 1970, was 
instrumental in launching this now annual event. Thanks to his 
determination, what began as a nationwide ``teach-in'' on college 
campuses and in American communities to catalyze growing public 
awareness of ensuring a livable world, has become a traditional day 
devoted to raising public consciousness about our environmental 
stewardship responsibilities.
  Senator Nelson observed that ``(t)he real loser in man's greedy drive 
is the youth of this country and the world. Because of the stupidity of 
their elders, the children of today face an ugly world in the near 
future, with dangerous and deadly polluted air and water; overcrowded 
development; festering mounds of debris; and an insufficient amount of 
open space to get away from it all. Since youth is again the great 
loser, perhaps the only hope of saving the environment and putting 
quality back into life may well depend on our being able to tap the 
energy, idealism, and drive of the oncoming generation.''
  Senator Nelson's reflections and the fact that today is Earth Day 
provide an opportunity to offer a special salute to the initiatives of 
a remarkable young native son of Illinois. Less than 3 miles away in 
the District of Columbia, within the shadow of this Capitol, hundreds 
of local volunteers led by a dynamic crew of young Illinoisans have 
spent the last 3 weeks tackling the tons of trash along the shores of 
the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers--soda cans and bottles, snack bags, 
styrofoam, and just about anything else you can imagine.
  This Capital River Relief Project is spearheaded by Chad Pregracke, 
an industrious and impressive young man from East Moline, IL, who 
founded Living Lands and Waters, a non-profit organization to support 
his Mississippi River Beautification and Restoration Project to collect 
and recycle debris. Over the past seven years, Chad's work has expanded 
from the Mississippi River to include clean-up projects on the 
Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, and currently the Anacostia and Potomac 
Rivers. What began as a ``one man and his dog with one boat'' clean-up 
effort has grown to an eight-state, 56-community project with thousands 
of volunteers and an estimated 900 tons of trash removed from the 
waters and banks of several major American rivers.
  Doug Siglin, Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Anacostia 
River Initiative, has partnered with Chad in the local effort. Numerous 
corporate backers, led by Koch Industries, have provided financial 
support for the project.
  Many organizations host annual river clean-up projects along both the 
Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. However, this year's clean-up effort is 
different. For the first time, a 140-foot barge is being moved up and 
down both the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, cleaning 30 miles of 
riverbanks. The barge serves as a temporary repository for all the 
garbage and materials collected from the rivers.
  As of April 19, Chad, his crew, and volunteers have loaded the barge 
with 2,800 bags filled with trash, along with 746 tires, 25 55-gallon 
barrels, 12 shopping carts, 7 refrigerators, 6 messages in bottles, 3 
water heaters, and 1 mannequin hand gathered from the banks and water. 
When the project concludes this weekend, all recyclable items will be 
taken to recycling facilities. Anything remaining will be taken to 
conventional landfills.
  Chad has received numerous awards for his efforts, including an 
honorary doctorate degree from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, 
Iowa, the Jefferson Award for Public Service, and the Manhattan 
Institute of Public Policy's Social Entrepreneurship Award. He also has 
been featured in an array of publications including People, Time, 
Reader's Digest, Outside, Smithsonian, and Biography magazine, which 
included Chad in its ``Top Ten Future Classics in America'' issue. 
Several networks have highlighted Chad's work including CNN, the 
National Geographic Channel, MTV, and PBS.
  In tandem with the clean-up drives, Chad's organization last year 
hosted 15 free, Big River Education Workshops from St. Louis, Missouri, 
to Davenport, Iowa, aboard a floating barge classroom. The workshops 
drew 295 teachers and river advocates, who then shared the knowledge 
and experience with the thousands of students whose lives they touch.
  Although Chad and his crew will be returning to the Midwest soon, 
they will leave behind not only cleaner local river shorelines, but a 
bevy of fans inspired by the realization that one person's vision, 
combined with muscle and resolve, can make a real difference. I applaud 
Chad Pregracke and his team of Lisa Hoffman, Erick Louck, Tammy Becker, 
Chris Fenderson, and Kim Erndt.
  Not only on Earth Day, but every day, I hope what they have set in 
motion for restoration of the historic waterways in our Nation's 
capital will be contagious.
  We owe it to our children and our children's children to restore and 
preserve all of the priceless waterways throughout our country, which 
sustain the lives of many fish, birds, and other species, provide 
abundant recreational opportunities, and help support not only our 
economy but our precious earth, 70 percent of which is covered in 
water, the building block of life.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, Wisconsin has inspired some of the 
greatest conservationists this Nation has ever known. Wisconsinites 
have had a powerful influence on the environmental movement. I now hold 
the Senate seat held by Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, and a 
man for whom I have the greatest admiration and respect. I am pleased 
that Wisconsin can lay claim to the genesis of Earth Day, a day of 
national and international remembrance of the importance of our natural 
resources and a clean environment. I know that the people of Wisconsin, 
living in such a beautiful and ecologically diverse State, feel a 
special connection to our natural resources and share a long tradition 
of our State government achieving excellence in its conservation 
policies.
  I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Gaylord Nelson, a 
former member of this body and a distinguished former Governor of the 
State of Wisconsin, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom, for changing the consciousness of a nation. He is the living 
embodiment of the principle that one person can literally change the 
world.

[[Page S4291]]

  During his 18 years of service in the Senate, Gaylord Nelson brought 
about significant change for the ``greener'' in both our Nation's law 
and the institution of the Senate itself. He is the coauthor of the 
Environmental Education Act, which he sponsored with the senior Senator 
from Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy, and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, 
and he sponsored the amendment to give the St. Croix and the Namekagon 
Rivers scenic protection. In the wake of Rachel Carson's book ``Silent 
Spring,'' Gaylord Nelson, along with Senator Philip Hart of Michigan, 
directed national attention to the documented persistent 
bioaccumulative effects of organochlorine pesticides used in the Great 
Lakes by authoring the ban on DDT in 1972. He was the primary sponsor 
of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Act, protecting one of 
northern Wisconsin's most beautiful areas.
  And Senator Nelson, of course, was the founder of Earth Day. Thanks 
to him, here we are, 34 years later, taking time out of our lives to 
think about conservation. Earth Day is an event which in addition to 
changing the environmental consciousness of the country literally 
stopped the Senate. Members of both bodies voted to adjourn their 
respective Houses in the middle of the legislative week to attend Earth 
Day events, an adjournment that would be extremely rare today. Here in 
this body, the Congressional Record indicates, at 3:31 pm. on Tuesday, 
April 20, 1970, our colleague the senior Senator from West Virginia, 
Mr. Byrd, adjourned the Senate until Friday, April 23, 1970. In the 
other body, Chamber action was adjourned from the middle of the day on 
April 21, 1970, the actual date of the first Earth Day, through April 
23 of that year.
  In addition to Gaylord Nelson, the list of Wisconsin 
environmentalists includes Sierra Club founder John Muir, whose 
birthday is the day before Earth Day. Also notable is the writer and 
conservationist Aldo Leopold, whose Sand County Almanac helped to 
galvanize the environmental movement. Finally, Wisconsin also produced 
Sigurd Olson, one of the founders of the Wilderness Society.
  Conservation is part of our culture in Wisconsin, and the people 
Wisconsin are very environmentally savvy. Every year I hold a town hall 
meeting in each one of Wisconsin's 72 counties, and protecting the 
environment is a top issue.
  Earth Day has become an important part of who we are. From Milwaukee, 
WI, to Mumbai, India, millions of people across the world are taking 
Senator Nelson's legacy to heart. They are volunteering this weekend to 
conserve the environment--whether it is in their backyard, local river, 
or park.
  I hope that on this Earth Day 2004, the Congress will re-dedicate 
itself to achieving the bipartisan consensus on protecting the 
environment that existed for nearly two decades. The Clean Water Act, 
for example, passed the U.S. Senate in 1971 by a vote of 86 to 0. When 
President Nixon vetoed it, the Senate overrode his veto, 52 to 12. The 
Endangered Species Act, which is under such attack right now, was 
passed by the Senate on a 92 to 0 vote in 1973.
  Unfortunately, during the course of this congressional session we 
have faced numerous proposals to roll back the environmental and health 
and safety protections upon which Americans depend. From clean water to 
clean air, the list of environmental rollbacks is stunning and 
disturbing. We need to work together to protect the environment, not 
revert to the times when we saw the Cuyahoga River catch fire, when at 
least one of the Great Lakes was considered ``ecologically dead,'' and 
when dumping of toxic wastes into rivers was standard operating 
procedure.
  In the upcoming months, I hope that Wisconsinites and citizens across 
America use this Earth Day to collect their thoughts and voice their 
opinions about pending Federal legislation and its impact on the 
environment. Wisconsinites value a clean environment, not just for 
purely aesthetic or philosophical purposes, but because a clean 
environment ensures that Wisconsin and the United States as a whole 
remains a good place to raise a family, start a business, and buy a 
home. It is important on this Earth Day 2004 that we keep the need for 
strong environmental laws in mind. Let's continue to move forward, not 
roll back.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I am pleased to share my views about the 
environment on Earth Day. I know many Members in this body support 
efforts to clean up our environment.
  Earth Day 2004 is the ideal time to recognize just how much our 
environment has improved. Over the last 3 years, the focus has been on 
results--making our air, water, and land cleaner. To get to that point 
and to keep improving in the future, we need to employ the best science 
and data available for decision-making. Our policies should encourage 
innovation and the development of new, cleaner technologies.
  We should continue to build on America's ethic of stewardship and 
personal responsibility through education, volunteer opportunities, and 
in our daily lives. Opportunities for environmental improvements are 
not limited to Federal Government actions. States, tribes, local 
communities, and individuals must be included.
  Over the last 30 years, our Nation has made great progress in 
providing for a better environment and improving public health. In that 
time, our economy grew 164 percent, population grew 39 percent, and our 
energy consumption increased 42 percent. Yet air pollution from the six 
major pollutants decreased by 48 percent. In 2002, State data reported 
to EPA showed that approximately 251 million people, or 94 percent of 
the total population, were served by community water systems that met 
all health-based standards. This number is up from 79 percent in 1993.
  Others areas of the environment can also be improved. I have 
introduced legislation to clean up old abandoned mine sites. While we 
have done a good job in addressing this problem, we can do better. I 
have a very simple solution to deal with this problem that will make 
our communities safer.
  The United States is holding $1 billion of money due States and 
tribes to clean up abandoned sites, and deal with problems associated 
with coal mining activities. The money has already been collected and 
allocated, but not yet appropriated. There is no justification for 
Congress to continue to hold this money. States are pleading for help 
to fix abandoned mine problems that will make communities safer and 
healthier for their citizens. It is unfortunate their pleas are being 
disregarded.
  This is a specific issue where we can make a huge dent in the problem 
today, right now. I ask Members to listen to the pleas of communities 
and immediately appropriate the $1 billion due States and tribes. If my 
colleagues care about the environment and want to clean up these 
cities, join me and we will get that money released.
  Let's show the American public that statements made in support of the 
environment are not political rhetoric and truly reflect the positions 
and feelings of Members. We can get this done today, and I ask each of 
you my colleagues to join me in making this happen on Earth Day 2004.
  There is no doubt that environmental progress is continuing. The 
facts are unequivocal: Today the Nation's environment is cleaner and 
healthier than it was 3 years ago. We are getting results more quickly 
and more substantially by reforming outmoded, command-and-control 
mandates that hinder environmental progress. We have been able to 
accomplish this with innovative, market-based approaches that harness 
the power of technology to achieve maximum environmental benefits.

                          ____________________