    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [April 18, 1991]
    [Pages 404-406]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 404]]

    Message to the Congress Reporting on Environmental Quality
    April 18, 1991

    To the Congress of the United States:
        Of all the great social and technological changes of the 20th
    century, none may be more crucial to our well-being and that of future
    generations than the change that has occurred in the way we view our
    environment. Ours was the first generation to see the many colors of
    Earth from the vastness of space, and to recognize that our decisions
    will determine whether the next generation lives in a polluted world of
    lowered expectations or in a world that sustains humanity and a wondrous
    diversity of life.
        Given these high stakes, I am pleased to report that 1990 was a
    landmark year in the Nation's efforts to enhance environmental quality.
        We enacted the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, providing
                the United States with the world's most advanced,
                comprehensive, and market-oriented laws to address air
                pollution, including acid precipitation, urban air quality,
                toxic air pollutants, and global ozone layer depletion.
        We adopted an international agreement and enacted laws to
                phase out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other substances
                that deplete the Earth's ozone layer, which protects us from
                the harmful effects of solar radiation.
        We enacted the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and adopted a major
                international agreement to strengthen laws related to oil
                pollution prevention, liability, and response.
        We enacted the most environmentally progressive farm bill
                ever. It will help farmers protect water quality and
                wildlife habitat and it launches a part of our America the
                Beautiful initiative to begin a long-term national tree
                planting and improvement campaign aimed at both rural and
                urban areas.
        In partnership with the Nation's Governors, we developed
                ambitious national educational goals, while the Congress and
                the executive branch strengthened environmental education
                programs. These actions are an essential part of our efforts
                to revitalize American education and to improve the
                environment.
        We made other commitments to environmental stewardship,
                including the expansion of national parks, wildlife refuges,
                marine sanctuaries, and recreation areas; accelerated
                cleanup of Federal facilities; enhanced protection of marine
                mammals, the African elephant, the Florida panther, and
                other threatened species; and the suspension for up to 10
                years of oil and gas leasing in many areas off our
                coastlines pending further environmental and resource
                analysis.
        The complete record is told in this report. I am proud that our
    Administration played a catalytic and constructive role in securing
    these achievements. Progress has come from working cooperatively with
    the Congress, State and local governments, environmental and
    conservation groups, corporations, educators, and scores of individuals,
    as well as other nations and international institutions.
        Our achievements in 1990 add to a growing national record of
    environmental action that has improved the quality of American life.
    Compared to the conditions facing Americans earlier in my lifetime, our
    skies are clearer, our lakes and streams are cleaner, and our major
    technologies are less wasteful.
        Our work, however, is incomplete. Americans are sobered by the scope
    of the stewardship challenge and recognize that it requires ongoing
    vigilance and action. We know, for example, that increased trade and
    economic development is needed to reduce poverty and improve the quality
    of life for all of the world's people. However, if we fail to make wise
    economic and environmental choices, those needed increases in economic
    activity are likely to result in new burdens on the Earth's ability to
    sustain life. Our challenge is both to provide greater opportunities for
    an expanding population

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    and to protect the environment upon which we depend.
        Several forces work in our favor. Our economy is fundamentally
    sound, which allows us to make environmental investments and serve as a
    model for others. Our technology is first-rate, as is our research
    establishment. Our citizens are eager to make a personal contribution.
        In the days ahead, therefore, we must summon the full measure of our
    powers to achieve environmental results. In that effort we should be
    guided by what science tells us about the most serious threats to our
    health and environment, and also by our knowledge of what works and what
    does not.
        In particular, we must learn to harness wherever possible the power
    of the marketplace in service to the environment. The goal of a healthy
    environment may not be provided by markets acting alone. However,
    government regulations are blunt tools that impose unforeseen human
    costs. Therefore, we need to consider all costs and benefits of
    government programs as they are developed and expand the use of market
    incentives that deliver results at the lowest possible cost to society.
    As a corollary, we need to strengthen the base of scientific and
    economic understanding that supports such decisions.
        Our environmental efforts should also be guided by a holistic view.
    The environment is composed of a seamless web of relationships between
    living organisms and the air, water, and land that surround them.
    Accordingly, rather than continue to address environmental issues in
    isolation from each other or from other social goals, we must expand our
    efforts to understand and protect the functional integrity of the
    environment--and our place in it.
        We can also apply American ingenuity to the challenge of preventing
    pollution. There is no reason to think of pollution as an inevitable
    problem that occurs at the end of a pipe. Quite the contrary: as
    pollution becomes more costly, and because we recognize the environment
    is an enclosed sphere, we are finding that pollution prevention can be
    less costly and better for the environment.
        Our efforts to enhance the quality of the domestic environment must
    be accompanied by comparable efforts toward global environmental
    quality. In these times, Americans are aware that our political and
    economic security is affected by actions occurring abroad. Likewise, we
    know that environmental threats do not stop at a line on a map. In the
    months and years ahead, we need to broaden our dialogue with other
    nations and international institutions and together address
    environmental issues that know no boundaries.
        At home, two further principles will guide our environmental
    policies. First, we will continue to harness the enthusiasm and
    expertise of citizen volunteers. Partnerships between the public and
    private sectors have always been a key to our success, and their value
    in environmental affairs is growing. Second, we will continue to enforce
    environmental laws firmly and fairly. Our record and our message in this
    regard are absolutely clear: polluters must pay.
        Taken together, these principles--and the new programs and
    initiatives that are putting them into action--represent a turning point
    in American environmental affairs. No longer should we as a nation focus
    on isolated fragments of what is in fact a complex, interconnected set
    of problems. Nor should we accept rigid, shortsighted measures that
    stymie innovation, shift pollution from one location to another, or
    impose unnecessary costs. In the future, our national environmental
    strategy must be comprehensive, long-range, efficient, and adaptable to
    changing information about risks and benefits.
        In the coming months, our Administration will pursue a number of new
    initiatives to advance these principles. For example, in December 1990 I
    established by Executive order the President's Commission on
    Environmental Quality. This Commission will soon be at work building
    public-private partnerships to help achieve concrete results in the
    areas of pollution prevention, conservation, education, and
    international cooperation. A program of Presidential awards for
    achievement in conservation and environmental affairs will stimulate
    voluntary activity and recognize the outstanding efforts of individuals
    and organizations.

    [[Page 406]]

    Each of these projects is intended to underscore my belief that
    environmental stewardship must flow from action by all Americans, not
    just from government action.
        In the legislative arena, our Administration will work with the
    102nd Congress toward enactment of amendments to the Clean Water Act and
    other laws, seeking opportunities to incorporate innovative, market-
    oriented provisions. We will also seek to make progress toward the goal
    of no-net-loss of wetlands and to strengthen programs to revitalize the
    Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay, and other productive ecosystems. And we
    will work for a National Energy Strategy that provides a balance among
    the goals of increased energy efficiency, increased use of alternative
    fuels, and environmentally responsible development of all U.S. energy
    resources.
        I have proposed that the Congress give the environment a permanent
    place at the Cabinet table by creating a Department of the Environment.
    Given the importance of environmental matters, both domestically and
    internationally, the Environmental Protection Agency is already accorded
    equal status with other major Federal departments in my Administration.
    However, I feel this policy should be established in law for the future.
    The Congress should reject extraneous provisions that would delay
    consideration of this proposal.
        Looking abroad, the United States will continue to seek to conclude
    an international convention on global climate change in time for its
    signing at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and
    Development in Brazil. In our view, such a convention must be
    comprehensive in scope, addressing all sources and sinks of greenhouse
    gases, adaptation as well as mitigation measures, and continued
    scientific and economic research and policy responses. The United States
    is committed to a series of domestic actions that have many benefits
    such as curbing air pollution, conserving energy, and restoring forest
    lands and that also help to curb greenhouse gas levels. These actions--
    recently established in law or proposed by my Administration--will hold
    U.S. net emissions of greenhouse gases at or below the 1987 level
    through the foreseeable future. An effective response to potential
    climate change also requires that all nations participate and meet
    obligations that are appropriate to their circumstances.
        I have also proposed that a worldwide convention on forests be
    developed and ready for signing by world leaders at the U.N. conference
    in 1992. Forests provide diverse benefits, helping to clean our air and
    water, foster biological diversity, and sequester greenhouse gases. We
    should take steps now to protect and enhance them. In the coming year, I
    also hope we can move forward on U.S. proposals for integrated economic
    and environmental assistance in such regions as Latin America and the
    Caribbean, Eastern and Central Europe, and the Middle East.
        The worldwide market potentially available for U.S. exports of
    environmental goods and services approaches $60 billion annually, and it
    is growing. I have directed the Department of Commerce to assess that
    market, and I look forward to the creation of a partnership between
    business and government to develop the opportunities for environmental
    technology exports. This effort will help to create new jobs while
    enhancing the quality of life here at home and around the globe.
        The causes and effects of environmental problems are diverse and
    complex. We should be humbled by the fact that the more we learn, the
    more questions arise. But unlike the situation a generation ago, we know
    today that ecological degradation can be halted and, indeed, reversed
    through rigorous analysis, constructive dialogue, and hard work. Let us
    work together in this generation to achieve a more productive harmony
    between humanity and the environment.

                                                                 George Bush

    The White House,
    April 18, 1991.