[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
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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
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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.
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