[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 22, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2528-H2530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               EARTH DAY

  Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 1117) declaring the support of the House of 
Representatives for the goals and ideals of Earth Day and for 
developing the scientific and technological capabilities to achieve 
those goals.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1117

       Whereas the need to educate Americans on the importance of 
     stewardship of the environment led to the first Earth Day in 
     1970, the passage of a variety of environmental laws, and 
     substantial environmental improvements over the intervening 
     years;
       Whereas substantial air quality and other environmental 
     problems persist in many areas of our country;
       Whereas today increasing numbers of Americans are concerned 
     with the relatively rapid changes in our environment and 
     decreasing biodiversity;
       Whereas the need to improve our interaction with the 
     environment has led to the need for more sophisticated 
     environmental research and development of solutions to 
     environmental problems;
       Whereas today the importance of scientific evidence in 
     making correct decisions about environmental problems has 
     never been more important;
       Whereas Earth Day activities increase our understanding of 
     the environment and its relationship to our personal 
     decisions regarding energy conservation, use of renewable 
     energy, use of natural resources, and recycling; and
       Whereas Earth Day has become the preeminent day of 
     environmental celebrations, clean-ups, and educational events 
     across the country: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) supports the goals and ideals of Earth Day and thanks 
     the many organizers and participants across the country for 
     their tireless efforts in support of the environment;
       (2) encourages the Department of Energy to step up its 
     efforts in research, development, and demonstration of 
     renewable energy technology and energy conservation 
     techniques; and
       (3) encourages all segments of American society to work 
     together in ensuring that the research and development 
     necessary to uncover solutions to our major environmental 
     problems occurs in a timely manner.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McNerney) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Bartlett) will each control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include extraneous materials on H.R. 1117, the resolution now under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, today, all over the world, concerned citizens are coming 
together to celebrate the 38th annual anniversary of Earth Day. Since 
its inception in 1970, Earth Day has become an international call to 
action on behalf of the environment, and I am proud to offer this 
resolution in support of the goals and ideals of Earth Day.
  We are constantly reminded of the serious environmental challenges 
that our country and our world are facing. The greatest challenge, 
global warming, continues to grab headlines, as it should. We are 
already feeling the effects of a heating planet, and it is long past 
time for our country to get serious about climate change.
  Global warming is a serious threat, but also presents an opportunity 
and strong motivation to develop the clean energy economy of the 
future. I spent much of my career before entering Congress as a 
renewable energy engineer, and I have seen firsthand the development 
and evolution of the clean technologies that combat climate change. We 
have much of the scientific knowledge and technical capability to 
attack climate change head on, but there is still more progress to be 
made.
  Today, Earth Day is an important opportunity to rededicate ourselves, 
both as individuals and as a Nation, to making the best use of the 
resources available to us. I want to commend the scientists, engineers, 
businesspeople, and educators who are working to develop the clean 
economy of the future, as well as the millions of Americans who are 
taking action to live greener lifestyles. I believe today is an 
important opportunity to honor the contributions toward a healthy 
planet.
  Earth Day is also an important opportunity to look forward to a 
greener tomorrow. We should renew our efforts to push ahead with 
research and development of the cutting edge, environmentally friendly 
technologies of the future, as well as the many smart policies that 
will preserve our environment. Confronting great environmental 
challenges will require technological innovation, as well as a forward-
thinking public policy. I believe we are up to the task.
  As important as combating climate change is, Earth Day also reminds 
us of the other crucial environmental issues of our time. We need to 
preserve our precious natural resources, and to do that, we have to 
maintain our national lands, protect biodiversity, ensure clean air for 
everybody, and make smart investments in environmental cleanup efforts. 
These are important legislative opportunities before us, and I hope 
that we will embrace the chance to preserve our treasured landscapes. I 
am optimistic about our environmental future. Looking forward, I see an 
America that runs on clean sources of energy and supports a wide 
spectrum of family wage green energy jobs. I see an America where 
environmentally sustainable building practices are the norm, not the 
exception. And I see an America where our most beautiful landscapes are 
protected for our children and grandchildren.
  I commend the organizers of Earth Day and the millions of people 
around the globe who are participating in Earth Day events today. Your 
dedication is admirable, and I am confident that environmental 
awareness and activism will continue to flourish. I am also inspired by 
the grassroots commitment to environmental protection that Earth Day 
embodies, and I look forward to celebrating many more Earth Days in the 
future.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to join me in supporting the 
goals and ideals of Earth Day.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. I rise in support of this resolution 
commemorating Earth Day and its goals and ideals. The first Earth Day 
was celebrated in 1970 by 20 million people. That same year, President 
Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency to protect public 
health and the environment and Congress amended the Clean Air Act with 
the goals of improving the national air quality, reduce auto emissions, 
and create antipollution standards.
  We have come a long way as a Nation since that first Earth Day. In 
1972, when Congress passed the Clean Air Act, only 26 percent of the 
Nation's streams were safe for swimming and fishing. Today, about 60 
percent of our streams are safe for such purposes. This day has a very 
special meaning for me because of my childhood experiences with 
streams. In the early thirties, I grew up in the coal mining country of 
western Pennsylvania, and every one of the streams that I could get to 
was called a sulfur creek because it contained waters that had leached 
the sulfur out of the mines. There was only one thing that lived in 
those creeks, and that was a little red wiggly worm. It must have been 
tough because nothing else lived there. The rocks were all covered by a 
slimy, orangish kind of a film. I am sure those streams weren't safe to 
swim in, but we swam in them anyway because we were too poor to go to 
the pool. I didn't know where a pool existed. So Earth Day has a very 
special meaning for me. Those streams

[[Page H2529]]

now, I think, are all clear thanks to our attention to that.
  A few years later, when Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act, 
ensuring EPA regulate the quality of our drinking water, today many 
Americans receive annual reports on the quality of their drinking 
water. In 1987, the United States joined other nations in signing the 
Montreal Protocol to phase out the production of chlorofluorocarbons, 
CFCs. As a result, the use of CFCs has been reduced drastically.
  As a Nation, we also focused efforts on educating the public on the 
benefits of recycling and the clean up of hazardous materials from our 
lands and our waterways. In the 1990s, under President George Bush, we 
passed the Pollution Prevention Act and the National Environmental 
Education Act to emphasize the importance of preventing pollution, 
while educating the public on the potential effects their actions might 
have on the environment.

                              {time}  1730

  During the same period, the EPA established the Energy Star program 
to provide consumers with information on the availability of energy 
efficient appliances.
  I would like to note, Mr. Speaker, that our efforts on efficiency 
have really been dramatic, and if it were not for the greatly increased 
efficiencies we have, we would be in even more trouble environmentally 
and with oil today than we are.
  In 1993, President Clinton launched a program encouraging Federal 
Government agencies to buy recycled and environmentally friendly 
products. In recent years, President George W. Bush signed the 
Brownfields Revitalization Act to reclaim and restore thousands of 
abandoned properties and the Healthy Forest Restoration Act to prevent 
forest fires and preserve the Nation's forests.
  Throughout the last three decades, efforts have been made to educate 
the public about the importance of conserving resources, preserving the 
environment and protecting the air we breathe and the water we drink. 
Americans have a better quality of life due to our own efforts to clean 
up the environment for ourselves and our children.
  I support this resolution recognizing Earth Day and urge my 
colleagues to support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I have been all around this great Nation 
and I have seen the environment change from the 1970s until the present 
day. When Earth Day was first declared, we had lakes that were catching 
on fire and we had pollution running in our rivers. We have seen 
tremendous progress. Our lakes and rivers are much cleaner now and our 
air is breathable, although it still needs progress, we still need 
work.
  The great thing about looking forward with the environment is that we 
can create jobs, we can make America prosperous. When we trash the 
environment, everyone gets poorer. We want an America that is 
prosperous. We want an America that we are proud to pass on to our next 
generation.
  Earth Day has been a big part of this. It deserves to be commended 
and recognized. It is bipartisan. Everybody drinks the same water and 
breathes the same air. So it is an issue that I think we have broad 
support on both sides of the aisle. I certainly have support back home 
in California, and I know that as I go around the country, I see the 
same level of interest, both in the environment and creating clean jobs 
and ending our dependence on foreign oil. These are all national 
security issues. They are issues that are great for our Nation. They 
are issues that we want to work for, and part of the reason I am here 
in Congress.
  So, again, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I think that a tipping moment 
occurred for most Americans when in that spacecraft hurdling toward the 
Moon they looked back and took a picture of our Earth, how small it was 
from that vantage point, and we suddenly recognized that the more than 
6 billion of us who occupy this Earth ride a rather, in the grand 
scheme of things, tiny spacecraft. It is our only home.
  I am very appreciative of the emphasis today on Earth Day, because I 
think that it is more than appropriate that we focus on this tiny orb 
that we are privileged to occupy as we hurdle through space. I remember 
staying up until 2 o'clock in the morning for that first walk on the 
Moon, and I remember those early pictures, and, gee, this is our Earth, 
and it really isn't all that big, is it?
  So I thank those who got this legislation together. I am in strong 
support of recognizing Earth Day and encourage all Americans to do so.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the words of the gentleman 
from Maryland. His concern is noted and appreciated.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, today our Nation joins with countries from 
around the world to celebrate Earth Day. Today, communities large and 
small, collectively come together to recognize past progress and 
develop new strategies to improve future environmental health. On this 
day of global environmental reflection, I rise to recognize two 
outstanding schools in my district, Woodstock and Brooklyn Middle 
Schools, which have worked to make eastern Connecticut a cleaner and 
more environmentally conscious community.
  Between March 20 and April 10, 2008, Woodstock and Brooklyn Middle 
Schools embarked on a project, the ``Bad Bag Competition'', which 
explored the prevalence of plastic bag use in our country as well as 
its environmental implications. Plastic bags are everywhere, from 
grocery to department stores, and every year Americans consume an 
average of 100 billion. In order to produce our annual demand for 
plastic bags, 12 million barrels of oil are used. Reducing national 
demand for plastic bags has clear environmental benefits.
  Throughout the ``Bad Bag Competition'', students from Woodstock and 
Brooklyn Middle Schools collected and recycled used plastic bags and 
educated our neighbors on the importance of using reusable bags. At the 
end of the competition, when all the bags were counted, Woodstock and 
Brooklyn Middle Schools collected 43,836 and 66,100 bags respectively. 
The petroleum that was used to produce these bags, which collectively 
totaled 109,936, could have fueled a vehicle for 7,853 miles.
  Mr. Speaker, these students have exemplified the spirit of Earth Day. 
These students not only modified their own choices to be more 
environmentally responsible, but encouraged our neighbors to do the 
same. The impact of this project on our eastern Connecticut community 
has been great, and the multiplier effects are even greater. I ask my 
colleagues to join with me and my constituents in recognizing these 
students' achievements and to choose reusable bags instead of the 
proverbial ``paper or plastic.''
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1117 to 
celebrate the 28'' Anniversary of Earth Day, take stock of the progress 
that has already been made, and recommit ourselves with a sense of 
focus and urgency to the work that remains to be done.
  We have come a long way since Senator Gaylord Nelson and Dennis Hayes 
organized their nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the 
environment in the Spring of 1970. In the years that followed, Congress 
established the Environmental Protection Agency and the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; enacted the Marine Mammal 
Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act; and strengthened the 
Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, among other critical initiatives.
  To a large extent, these steps--and other like them--continue to form 
the foundation of our environmental laws in the United States. 
Unfortunately, recent years have witnessed an erosion to this 
foundation as regulatory agencies shirked their responsibility to 
enforce the law and existing statutes failed to keep pace with the 
magnitude of the environmental challenges we are confronting in the 
25th century.
  The New Direction Congress has now begun the necessary process of 
reversing that erosion and establishing a new baseline of federal 
commitment to stewardship from which the next chapter in American 
environmental leadership will be written. For the first time in over 30 
years, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 increased the 
corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard for automobiles to 35 
mpg by 2020. In combination with the economy-wide energy efficiency 
standards in the legislation, this step will reduce oil consumption by 
2.4 million barrels a day--for a more than 25 percent reduction over 
today's usage--and save 5.3 billion metric tons in energy-related 
CO2 emissions by 2030. It's important. But it's just a 
start.
  We must move decisively to enact an economy-wide cap-and-trade 
program that achieves dramatic reductions in our greenhouse gas 
emissions by the middle of the century--and work with other nations 
around the

[[Page H2530]]

world to do the same. We must transition our economy away from its 
reliance on fossil fuels and towards the clean, green energy sources of 
the future, while making far more efficient use of the energy we 
currently use. We must update, strengthen and enforce bedrock laws like 
the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. And we must act locally and 
individually in all of our communities to restore, protect and cherish 
ecosystems like the Chesapeake Bay on which all of life ultimately 
depends.
  Mr. Speaker, the key decisions we make over the next several years 
will have a profound impact on the kind of America we leave to our 
children. I believe the vast majority of our constituents understand 
this and stand ready to do their part as we come together to build a 
more prosperous, healthier and greener nation.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, in honor of the 38th celebration 
of Earth Day, I would like to take this time to reflect on the progress 
we are making for the health of our planet--and to challenge all 
Americans--each and every one of us--to re-dedicate ourselves to living 
in a sustainable manner.
  Looking back, we can be proud that the New Direction Congress has 
made real progress toward a future of cleaner energy and healthier 
living.
  Last year, Congress passed the historic Energy Independence and 
Security Act.
  This legislation takes important steps to increase fuel efficiency, 
help promote alternative energy sources, and is set to dramatically 
reduce CO2 emissions over the years to come. However, we can 
do more. We must do more. The time is now. We cannot wait any longer to 
address the countless environmental challenges we must confront.
  Together, we can leave our planet a little greener and a little more 
peaceful. It is our duty to help spur the next generation of energy 
technology--solar, hydrogen, wind, and other sources of energy that 
create a sustainable environment.
  The U.S. has the technology and know-how to lead the world in 
environmental solutions. I believe we can strengthen America's economy 
through environmentally sound policy and, in the process, create jobs 
here at home.
  As we commemorate this Earth Day ask yourself, am I doing enough? Can 
I do more? What kind of planet will we leave for the next generation?
  We all must share this planet. We all rely on its resources to 
survive. We must all do our part to pass along a healthy and 
sustainable living environment to our children and grandchildren.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of 
H. Res. 1117, as it supports the goals and ideals of Earth Day.
  Greenhouse gas emissions in Texas are the highest in the Nation. In 
fact, if Texas were its own separate country, it would rank seventh in 
the world in carbon dioxide emissions. Unless Texas significantly 
alters its fuel mix towards lower emitting fuels or renewable energy, 
greenhouse gas emissions are expected to continue to rise rapidly.
  I am unhappy that the overall energy use in Texas is projected to 
increase by 36 percent over the next 20 years. We must act now to stop 
this trend. This pattern is bad for our environment. It is bad for the 
health of our children and grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, let us not leave a legacy of waste and pollution for 
tomorrow's citizens. Let us act now to pass policies to protect our 
environment and be good stewards of the Earth.
  Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. McNerney) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1117.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________