[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 5918-5919]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     40TH ANNIVERSARY OF EARTH DAY

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I come to the floor to recognize the 
40th anniversary of Earth Day and to remember the man who founded Earth 
Day, the late Wisconsin Governor and Senator Gaylord Nelson.
  Before he was the founder of Earth Day, and one of the Nation's 
greatest conservationists, he was a son of Wisconsin. He was a young 
boy growing up in the town of Clear Lake, WI, amid the great natural 
beauty of our State. When asked how he developed his lifelong interest 
and dedication to the environment, Nelson would say ``by osmosis'' 
while growing up in Clear Lake, WI.
  He reflected the very best of our State from the beginning, building 
on Wisconsin's long tradition of environmental conservation. Our State 
passed landmark forest and waterpower conservation acts during the 
progressive era and lays claim not only to Gaylord Nelson but to other 
giants of the conservation movement such as Aldo Leopold, John Muir, 
and Sigurd Olson.
  All of them were inspired, as Nelson was, by the beautiful Wisconsin 
wilderness. The natural beauty of our State charted the course of 
Nelson's life, from the shores of Clear Lake to the banks of the 
Potomac, where he changed the way we think about our planet and changed 
the law to protect the water we drink and the air we breathe.
  There are few Members of this body, past or present, who have left 
such a valuable legacy. So I am proud to help celebrate that legacy 
with a resolution in the House and Senate celebrating the 40th 
anniversary of Earth Day and its founder. As we look ahead to the many 
challenges we face, we can draw strength from the example Gaylord set 
for us all. He drove tremendous change and, with Earth Day, created a 
new momentum that has been critical to so many efforts to protect the 
health of our environment.
  Gaylord also understood the connection between the two great 
Wisconsin traditions of fiscal responsibility and conservation. Too 
often, a Federal program that is wasting taxpayer dollars is also 
laying waste to our air, our water or our public lands. The Nation's 
outdated mining laws are a perfect example. These laws allow the mining 
companies to mine on our public lands for next to nothing and leave 
behind an environmental mess for taxpayers to clean up.
  Gaylord fought to change those laws, and when I was elected to the 
Senate, he asked me to take up this fight and I have. I have made it 
part of my Control Spending Now Act, legislation to cut the deficit by 
about $\1/2\ trillion over the next 10 years. If we scrap these 
outdated mining laws, we can save taxpayers hundreds of millions of 
dollars and protect the public lands that belong to the American 
people. They do not belong to the mining companies.
  I am also working on another environmental issue that has a special 
connection to Gaylord Nelson; that is, clean water. The man from Clear 
Lake did so much for clear, clean water everywhere, including being a 
champion of the Clean Water Act.
  Today, the Clean Water Act is under threat because two recent Supreme 
Court decisions have jeopardized its protections. Those decisions put 
nearly 20 million acres of wetlands habitat and more than 50 percent of 
our stream miles in the lower 48 States at risk. These waters could now 
become polluted or wiped out altogether unless Congress takes action.
  I am working to see that Congress stands up to the special interests 
that want to roll back the Clean Water Act's protections and ensure 
that these bodies of water can continue to provide drinking water, 
wildlife habitat, recreation, and support for industry and agriculture 
for generations of Wisconsinites to come.
  So I have joined with Minnesota Representative Jim Oberstar to 
introduce the Clean Water Restoration Act. This bill is designed to 
accomplish one basic and important goal: ensure that the Clean Water 
Act of 1972 stays in place. There are no new regulations in our 
legislation, only a return to the original intent of the Clean Water 
Act, which has protected our waters for more than 35 years.
  Gaylord Nelson and others have done so much to protect the health of 
our waters, and we owe it to them and to ourselves to carry that legacy 
forward. That is what I seek to do in the Senate with the Clean Water 
Restoration Act.
  We face many other challenges as well. Of course, climate change 
looms largest of all. We need to address the serious problem of climate 
change and do so without unfairly hurting Wisconsin, which relies on 
coal for much of its energy needs. If we do this right, we have an 
opportunity to pass legislation that will reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions and create energy jobs here in America. We can help American 
businesses gain a competitive advantage developing new renewable energy 
and energy efficient technologies.
  The desire to protect our air, our water, and our planet will bring 
people together tomorrow, all around the world. They will talk about 
global issues we face and the local environmental issues in their 
communities that they want to address. They will

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organize, mobilize, and galvanize new momentum for change.
  That is exactly what Gaylord Nelson intended. He knew the power of 
people coming together and what that could mean for the air we breathe, 
the water we drink, and the national parks and public lands we all 
cherish. He knew that these natural resources connect us all and that 
Earth Day would bring us together to protect them.
  I am so grateful to have known Gaylord Nelson, and I am proud of the 
legacy he left behind. As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth 
Day, we remember the man from Clear Lake who came to this body inspired 
by the beautiful Wisconsin landscape of his childhood and in the end 
made a better world for us all.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I would say to my distinguished friend from 
Wisconsin, I was delighted to hear those words about Gaylord Nelson. I 
had the privilege of serving for a term with Senator Nelson. He was 
down-to-earth, respected by all in this body, and he had a commitment 
to the environment rarely ever matched. The Senator from Wisconsin has 
said it far more eloquently than I could. But I think how fortunate we 
are that we have this Senator from Wisconsin who has carried out that 
commitment to the environment, that commitment to the best ideals of 
our government. I know our dear, departed friend Gaylord Nelson would 
be so proud to have the Senator here representing Wisconsin.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, let me thank the Senator from Vermont 
for his kind words, for his remembering Gaylord Nelson, and, of course, 
for the incredible legacy of his own for the environment, coming from 
one of the most beautiful States in this country, Vermont. I thank him.

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