[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9145-9146]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               EARTH DAY

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, Sunday is the 37th anniversary of Earth Day. 
I have been pleased to read reports that people across the country are 
planning to come together to celebrate our environmental 
accomplishments and to renew their environmental commitment to future 
and current generations. Everyone should celebrate the major steps 
forward we have taken to achieve clean air and water, to reduce 
pollution, and to clean up hazardous waste sites.
  Earth Day is celebrated because of the great work of former Senator 
Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. In 1970, he founded Earth Day to celebrate 
the environment and to bring attention to the legislative challenges 
facing those who want to want to protect the environment. Senator 
Nelson also cosponsored the Wilderness Act of 1964, a law that has been 
amazingly important to protecting Nevada's beauty.
  Nevada is one of the many States that has greatly benefited from the 
increased environmental awareness that former Senator Nelson helped to 
cultivate. Nevada's dramatic landscapes from the high alpine lakes of 
the Ruby Mountains to the stark open spaces of the Black Rock Desert to 
the incredible Joshua tree forests in the Piute Valley have provided 
inspiration to generations of Nevadans. Protecting Nevada's wild lands 
ensured that those who follow us will have the same opportunity to find 
and experience these incredible places as we had.
  The Wilderness Act of 1964, which was cosponsored by former Senator 
Nelson, has done tremendous things in Nevada. I have been proud to help 
designate nearly 2 million acres of wilderness across Nevada, in 
addition to creating the Sloan Canyon, Red Rock Canyon, and Black Rock 
Desert-High Rock Canyon National Conservation Areas and Great Basin 
National Park.
  Protecting and serving our environment has always been one of my 
passions, and I have twice had the privilege to chair the Environment 
and Public Works Committee. During that time, I had the chance to write 
the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, to revise the Clean Air 
Act, and to improve the Endangered Species Act, Superfund, and the 
Clean Water Act. In each case, I advocated for laws that not only 
protect the environment but that are flexible, take advantage of market 
mechanisms, and reflect the unique needs and circumstances of the West.
  I was always pleased that I was able to work in a bipartisan manner 
with my colleagues on the Environment and Public Works Committee. 
Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all understood that protecting 
the environment did not have to be a partisan issue, and I was glad 
that various presidents joined in our efforts. That is why it is so 
distressing today to see the current administration's policies pursued 
in such a manner because environmental issues could and should be 
bipartisan.
  Each year, our understanding grows about how important it is to 
conserve and protect our land and its rich resources. While the current 
administration's environmental rollbacks are far too numerous to count, 
it started with attempts to loosen arsenic standards for drinking water 
and centers today around their total unwillingness to work together on 
a plan that will first stabilize and then reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions.
  Global warming and climate change is the single greatest 
environmental challenge that will confront current and future 
generations. We have a moral obligation to address this issue and 
choosing to ignore this problem is madness and a luxury we do not have 
the time for. I once again urge my colleagues not to fall for the 
temptation of the administration's voluntary ''technology-only'' 
strategy. That strategy has only increased emissions and the risks 
associated with global warming.
  The negative impacts that have been linked to global warming and 
climate change are also far too numerous to mention, but I am 
continually concerned about the impacts that climate change will have 
on water in Nevada. Most recently, the National Resources Conservation 
Service recorded that snowpack throughout the Sierra Nevada Mountains 
is only at 40 to 50 percent or normal. In eastern Nevada, due

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to decreases in the snowpack, the stream flow for the Humboldt River is 
expected to only be at 34 percent and the lower Colorado River at 19 
percent of its average. A recent study published in Science said all 
but one of the 19 major climate models project that the Southwest is at 
the beginning of a deepening drought largely due to greenhouse gas 
concentration increases and global warming.
  The challenge of eliminating our Nation's overdependence on oil and 
other greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels will be a great test for our 
country and for the world. I believe that America can lead the way in 
developing new technologies to meet and pass this test. We can and must 
become more energy independent through the rapid development and 
diversification of clean, alternative, and renewable sources of energy. 
They will provide a steady, reliable energy supply, bolster our 
national security, protect the environment, and create new jobs and 
whole new industries. We must tap into our Nation's spirit of 
innovation and bring a new environmental ethic to our energy policy.
  Every day, not just on Earth Day, we have to work together to protect 
our environment from threats so our children and our grandchildren and 
so on can drink clean water, breath clean air, and enjoy the vast open 
spaces and the natural beauty of Nevada, America, and the world. That 
much is for certain, and I look forward to bringing that commitment to 
everything that I and this Senate undertake.

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