[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[April 22, 1992]
[Page 624]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Earth Day

April 22, 1992
    Earth Day, April 22, is an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to 
leaving a better quality of life for future generations. But I believe 
we must make every day Earth Day. A clean environment requires action 
from both Government and citizens. I believe that we can have both 
economic growth and a cleaner, safer environment. Sound policies do not 
force us to choose between the two.
    In just 3 years, this administration has:
    Proposed, negotiated, and signed into law a new Clean Air 
            Act that will cut sulfur dioxide emissions in half, reduce 
            toxic air emissions by 90 percent, and clean up smog in 
            cities across America;
    Established a moratorium until at least the next century on 
            oil and gas drilling off the coasts of California, south 
            Florida, Washington, Oregon, and New England;
    Led the world by proposing to phase out CFC's and other 
            ozone-depleting substances by the end of 1995, and taken 
            legislative action to put the U.S. 42 percent ahead of the 
            internationally required phaseout schedule;
    Proposed to add over $1 billion in new lands to America's 
            parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and recreation lands;
    Won international agreements to prevent hazardous waste from 
            being illegally dumped in developing countries, to ban ivory 
            imports, to ban large-scale driftnet fishing, and to protect 
            Antarctica;
    Increased funding sharply for implementing and enforcing 
            environmental laws (including a 53-percent increase in EPA's 
            operating budget), for Superfund, for cleaning up Federal 
            facilities, for protecting wetlands habitat, and for parks 
            and recreation;
    Signed an Executive order requiring Federal Agencies, which 
            generate 20 percent of the Nation's solid waste, to recycle 
            paper, plastic, metals, glass, used oil, lead acid 
            batteries, and tires;
    Made polluters pay the cost of cleanup. The Justice 
            Department and EPA have collected more fines and penalties 
            in the first 3 years of this administration than during the 
            previous 18-year history of the EPA.

    But our work is not finished. I have called on Congress to take the 
following actions this year:
    Enact balanced national energy legislation providing for 
            increased energy conservation and environmentally 
            responsible energy production, transmission, and use;
    Establish a U.S. Department of the Environment; and
    Increase budgets for environmental and natural resource 
            programs, as requested in my budget. Last year, Congress cut 
            my budget requests for Superfund and for America the 
            Beautiful, which includes funding for parks, forests, 
            wildlife refuges, outdoor recreation, and our program to 
            plant one billion trees a year across the country.

    These measures would build upon our recent progress and provide 
continuing momentum to achieve what Americans want in the months and 
years ahead, environmental improvement and economic growth.