[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 31 (Monday, August 5, 2002)]
[Page 1282]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Proposed Legislation To Implement the Clear Skies 
Initiative

July 29, 2002

    Today I am pleased to announce that Environmental Protection 
Administrator Whitman has submitted legislation to Congress to implement 
the Clear Skies Initiative I proposed in February. Since February, my 
administration has been working to develop legislation that meets our 
common commitment to cleaner air for all Americans. I also am pleased 
that Chairman Billy Tauzin and Chairman Joe Barton introduced this 
legislation in the House on Friday and that Senator Bob Smith will 
introduce it in the Senate today on behalf of the administration. Clear 
Skies will cut powerplant emissions by 70 percent--much further, faster, 
more certainly, and more cost-effectively than current law.
    America has made significant progress over the last 30 years in our 
quest for cleaner air, and we have learned a lot about what approaches 
work best. Now is the time to put those lessons to use. Building upon 
the success of our most effective clean air program, we have crafted a 
new ``Clean Air Act'' for the 21st century, one that will do more to 
clean up emissions from powerplants than ever before. In the next decade 
alone, Clear Skies will eliminate 35 million more tons of pollution than 
the current Clean Air Act, bringing cleaner air to millions of 
Americans. Clear Skies will also help save our forests, lakes, streams, 
and coastal waters from acid rain and nitrogen and mercury deposition. 
And Clear Skies will do this through the use of a market-based system 
that guarantees results while keeping electricity prices affordable for 
the American people. Administrator Whitman and I look forward to working 
with Congress to deliver the health and environmental benefits promised 
by passage of Clear Skies legislation.