    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
    [September 16, 2003]
    [Pages 1170-1173]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1170]]

    Remarks on Proposed Clear Skies Legislation
    September 16, 2003

        Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for coming. The sky is
    clear--[laughter]--and we intend to keep it that way. I just met with a
    diverse group of our fellow citizens from the manufacturing sector, from
    organized labor, the environmental community. I met with Federal, State,
    and local officials. We had a good discussion about how to protect our
    environment and grow our economy. These groups don't always get along,
    but they agreed on this goal: The Nation must take the next bold step
    and continue to make our air cleaner with the Clear Skies legislation.
    And that's what we're here to talk about today.
        The Clear Skies legislation will continue the great progress we have
    made against air pollution. Over the past three decades, we've reduced
    the Nation's air pollution by half. But there is more to do. Clear Skies
    legislation would further improve the health of our citizens, promote
    new technologies that would dramatically decrease emissions, help
    communities meet environmental standards, and help create new jobs for
    American workers. Congress must act on this initiative.
        I appreciate members of my administration who are here to work on
    this initiative, Secretary Gale Norton of the
    Department of Interior and Marianne Horinko, who is the Acting Administrator of the EPA. Thank you
    both for coming.
        I'm pleased to see that Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma is here. He's the chairman of the Environment
    and Public Works Committee. I have spoken to the Senator right up there
    on the Truman Balcony about this issue. And he's committed to working
    with us to get a good piece of legislation moving. Mr. Senator, thank
    you for coming.
        I also appreciate Senator Voinovich,
    who's the chairman of the Clean Air, Climate Change, and Nuclear Safety
    Subcommittee, for coming today, great State of Ohio. Thank you for
    coming, Senator.
        I see my good friend Joe Barton from Texas
    who's here, the chairman. Mr. Chairman, we're glad you're here, the
    chairman of the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee. I appreciate your
    interest in this topic. It's an important subject for America.
        I want to thank Charlie Norwood,
    Congressman from Georgia, Fred Upton, Congressman
    from Michigan, John Sweeney, the Congressman
    from New York, John Shimkus, the Congressman
    from Illinois, and Wayne Gilchrest, the
    Congressman from Maryland. Thank you all for being here today.
        We've got a nice diverse group of local officials who are with us
    today. Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma Mary Fallin is here. Thank you, Governor. I'm glad you're here.
        Jim Garner, who's the mayor of the
    village of Hempstead and, as importantly, is the president of the U.S.
    Conference of Mayors, thank you for coming, Mr. President. It's got a
    nice ring to it. [Laughter]
        Mayor Bob Young of the city of Augusta is with
    us today. Bob, thank you for coming. State Senator Beverly Gard from Indiana is coming. She had an eloquent testimony
    about the need for us to make sure we have manufacturing jobs in
    America. Clear Skies is--addresses that issue. Thank you for coming,
    Senator.
        Harry Alford, who is the president and
    CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, is with us. Thank you,
    Harry. Bruce Davis, who is the president of
    Kanawha Manufacturing Company, is with us today. Steve Higdon, who is the president of the Greater Louisville Chamber
    of Commerce, is with us. He spoke eloquently about the need for
    legislation to make sure jobs in Louisville are saved.

    [[Page 1171]]

        Brian Houseal, who is the executive
    director of the Adirondack Council, for coming. I appreciate Brian being
    here. I was in the Adirondacks 2 years ago. Were you there, Sweeney?
    Yes, you were there. I think it was May, and it snowed. [Laughter] But
    it's such a beautiful part of our country. I want to thank you for your
    leadership on this issue.
        Chuck MacFarlane, who is the president
    of Otter Tail Power Company. It is a small utility in the Dakotas, but
    it's an important part of making sure rural America has got a chance to
    succeed economically. And I say it's an important part--Otter Tail's
    viability is an important part, the capacity to bring electricity to our
    citizens is an important part of any economic plan.
        Jerry Roberts is with us. I want to
    thank Jerry. He's from Monroe, the Monroe plant that we were at the
    other day. He's the treasurer of the Local 223, Utility Workers of
    America; it's an AFL-CIO affiliate. I want to thank you for coming.
        See, what we're talking about is good for the working people of this
    country. What we're talking about makes sense for those who work for a
    living, and I'll explain why in a minute. I thank all the small-business
    leaders who are here and the community leaders. I want to thank you for
    your efforts, your deep concern about getting this legislation moving.
        See, these people are here because they want a piece of legislation
    moving. They know we must get something done. And they're asking me what
    they could do in the room. And I said, ``Well, I'm confident the
    chairmen are going to carry the load. We've just got to make sure that
    once these bills get moving, that the undecideds hear from us, that
    people understand the benefits as to why we need this legislation.''
        With the landmark Clean Air Act of 1970, our Nation set high goals
    for air quality. And this administration strongly supports those goals.
    I believe that by combining the ethic of good stewardship and the spirit
    of innovation, we will continue to improve the quality of our air and
    the health of our economy and improve the chance for people to have a
    good life here in America.
        You know, a lot of times I talk about the fact that we can grow our
    economy and protect our environment. We've shown over the last decades
    that that is possible. Our economy has grown 164 percent in three
    decades. According to the EPA report released yesterday, air pollution
    from six major pollutants is down by 48 percent during that time. It's
    possible to grow the economy and protect the air. We're proving it here
    in America.
        And so the question is, how do we not only continue that improvement
    but to do more in a way that makes sense? And that's what I want to
    discuss with you. I've got three ideas or three commonsense points that
    I want to talk about to improve the quality of our life here in America.
        First, this administration is taking a strong stand when it comes to
    air pollution that comes from diesel vehicles. We made a bold step and a
    bold proposal. Before we made the proposal, we wisely sought advice from
    environmental groups, from agricultural concerns, from manufacturers,
    from energy companies, to develop a strategy that will reduce emissions
    from diesel use.
        Oil companies will now lower the sulfur in diesel fuel. There will
    be tough new limits--emission limits on diesel truck engines. And we're
    putting forward sensible new rules that will control pollution from off-
    road vehicles like heavy construction equipment. We put together a good
    plan to deal with this important issue, a plan supported by a lot of
    interests.
        Secondly, we're meeting new air quality standards by fixing some old
    regulations that weren't working very well. It's what they call New
    Source Review regulations. See, we want to encourage our companies to
    invest in new technologies and modernize equipment where possible, so
    that

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    we can produce more electricity and pollute less. That's what we want to
    do. It makes sense, doesn't it, to have policy that says to a plant like
    the one we visited in Monroe yesterday, ``We want to encourage you to
    get with the latest technology, so you can do your job of providing more
    electricity but do it in a way that protects the environment.''
    Unfortunately, old regulations discourage companies from doing that. We
    had old regulations on the books that made it very difficult for
    utilities to make wise decisions.
        As a matter of fact, it made it difficult for them to even have
    routine repairs or replace old equipment. You see, if powerplants or
    other companies wanted to make a change they could afford, under the old
    regulations, regulators would come in and order all kinds of changes.
    They would make it such that there would be a multiyear bureaucratic
    battle. See, the rules were so complex that they were open for
    interpretation.
        Complex rules also opens decisions to litigation. You know, when
    something's really complex, it makes it easy for lawyers to sue and tie
    things up. Plant managers weren't able to put the latest technology in
    place to improve the quality of our air because of fear of bureaucratic
    battle and lawsuit. That didn't seem to make any sense to us in this
    administration, because we understand when plants become inefficient and
    old and stale and tired, the cost to the consumer goes up, reliability
    of energy supplies is decreased, jobs are lost. In fact, the spirit of
    the Clean Air Act is disregarded.
        So we did something about it in this administration. We reviewed the
    old rules. We held public meetings. We had more than 100 groups
    participate in hearings. We considered thousands of comments. We had a
    good, healthy debate. And now we're taking action. We're replacing the
    old rules with simple, clear, easy-to-understand rules that will allow
    utility companies to make routine repairs without enormous costs and
    enormous disruptions to their plants.
        And the country is going to be better off for it. By changing the
    New Source Review regulations, Americans are going to have more reliable
    electricity at better cost, and the skies will be cleaner. And it was
    finally time to act, and this administration acted.
        Third way to clean our air is through the Clear Skies proposal. This
    legislation sets mandatory limits on the pollution that contributes
    heavily to smog, to acid rain, and nitrogen deposits that damage our
    streams and our bays. Our goal over the next 15 years is to reduce
    sulfur dioxide emissions by 73 percent, nitrogen oxide emissions by 67
    percent, and to have mandatory limits on mercury emissions, cutting
    those emissions by 69 percent. These standards will be set, and our
    powerplants will have the flexibility to meet the standards. That's an
    important part of this initiative.
        Clear Skies will establish overall caps on emissions, and instead of
    Government telling utilities where and how to cut pollution, we will
    tell them how much to cut and when we expect progress to be made. Every
    year, each facility will need a permit of each ton of pollution it
    emits. Plants that can reduce their pollution below that amount are
    allowed to sell the surplus to other plants that need more time.
        This is a system, cap-and-trade, with built-in incentives. It has
    worked in the past. It will make it financially worthwhile for companies
    to invest earlier in controls and therefore pollute less. And by taking
    this action--and I urge Congress to take the action--we'll have more
    affordable energy, more jobs, and cleaner skies. The people here today
    share a conviction that Clear Skies is a sound way to clean our air and
    keep the economy growing. And I'm sure when Congress looks at this
    initiative, they'll agree.
        The Adirondack Council is here, and I want to thank you for coming.
    They support this approach. You see, they've seen

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    cap-and-trade work. The forests in the Adirondacks were and are still
    threatened by acid rain. There was a severe problem. In 1990, the
    Congress set ambition goals for cutting, by half, pollution that leads
    to acid rain and created the cap-and-trade system I just described.
        And the law--1990 law had an incredibly positive effect. The
    Adirondacks are on their way back. The damage from acid rain is being
    repaired, but there is more to do when it comes to acid rain. By placing
    stringent limits on the pollution that causes acid rain and harms our
    water, Clear Skies will help us to complete the job that was started in
    1990. It's a good, sound piece of environmental legislation.
        We've got State and local officials here. See, they support Clear
    Skies because they want their communities to be able to have clean air
    and good manufacturing jobs. Combined with the administration's rules on
    diesel emissions and Clear Skies, State and local leaders will have the
    ability to meet national standards without sacrificing good jobs--good
    manufacturing jobs.
        See, there's now a tradeoff to be made. The rules are such that it's
    likely a lot of cities are going to lose the capacity to have good
    manufacturing jobs. A lot of inner-city people aren't going to be able
    to find work. The legislation on the books is counterproductive. We've
    got to change it with good, commonsense legislation. And that's what
    we're here to talk about.
        This legislation has support from utility companies. Why? Because
    there will be certainty, and they'll be given the incentive and
    flexibility to invest in new technologies. And of course, the unions
    support it, because a reliable energy source is important for job
    creation. But think about all the jobs that will come as new
    technologies are installed in the plants.
        No, there's a lot of benefit for this piece of legislation. I'm
    anxious to get it started in Congress. See, we've had to deal with some
    issues in this country. We've had to deal with the fact that too many of
    our citizens are looking for work. One way to make sure that the job
    supply is steady and growing in the long term is to have a realistic
    energy policy coupled with realistic environmental policy. It's a very
    important part of a growing job base. People need certainty when it
    comes to planning. People need to know the rules are going to encourage
    investment and change, not discourage it. People need to know there's
    going to be less lawsuits that prevent rational thought from going
    forward. People in this country must understand that we can have a pro-
    growth agenda, a pro-job agenda, and a pro-environment agenda at the
    same time, and Clear Skies legislation is just that.
        I want to thank you for coming. I want to thank you for your
    interest. God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:38 p.m. in the East Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Bob Young of Augusta, GA;
    and Gerald Robertson, treasurer, Utility Workers Union of America Local
    223.