[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 70 (Thursday, April 22, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H2091]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         ACHIEVING THE GOAL OF A CLEAN AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

  (Mr. CASTEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CASTEN. Madam Speaker, the time for action is now. No longer can 
we substitute slogans for solutions. The protection of the environment 
offers America its best hope. Achieving the goal of a clean and healthy 
environment must be done by every American. We can reach this goal in 
this decade. And in reaching it, we can trigger a chain reaction of 
confidence and hope.
  Those are the words of Bill Ruckelshaus on this day 50 years ago; a 
Republican; the first Administrator of the EPA under Richard Nixon, and 
then again under Ronald Reagan; the man who implemented the Clean Air 
Act amendments of 1990.
  His successor under George H.W. Bush was Bill Reilly, who implemented 
the Acid Rain Program and the Montreal Protocol, a global, market-based 
cap and trade program. These men knew that science and our obligations 
to future generations are not negotiable. They tolerated no conflict 
between conservatism and conservation.
  Sixty percent of all the greenhouse gas emissions we have ever 
emitted as a species have been released since that speech Bill 
Ruckelshaus gave 50 years ago today.
  Madam Speaker, the time for action is now.

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