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As a member of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, a former member of the House Resources Committee, and a former Chairman of the New York State Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee, protecting the environment has always been one of my highest priorities. So it pains me to see President Bush systematically dismantling decades of environmental progress. I continue to fight hard against his potentially devastating moves.

Clean Air Act
Since 1970, the Clean Air Act has effectively reduced air pollution by nearly 30 percent. The New Source Review (NSR) component of the Act has been a key component of that progress, preventing millions of tons of smog and acid rain-forming chemicals from being released into the air. NSR requires large industrial facilities to install modern pollution control technology when they upgrade and increase their air emissions.

 

The Bush Administration recently decided to eviscerate NSR. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in August that it would allow facilities to avoid modernizing pollution controls by exempting up to 20 percent of the cost of replacing a plant's essential production equipment.

 

This represents another major victory for corporate polluters. The rollback of NSR is this administration's most far-reaching assault on our environmental laws yet, and that's saying quite a lot considering its woeful record. Under this regulation more than 17,000 industrial plants will be allowed to increase harmful emissions without improving their pollution controls. This includes about 540 older coal-fired plants that have the worst record of air pollution.

 

Over time, the 20 percent exemption will effectively repeal the NSR program. Major polluters -- like oil, coal and electric companies -- can completely overhaul their plants in stages and increase their emissions. As long as they do not exceed the 20 percent limit at any one time, they will not be required to make any corresponding improvements to their pollution controls.
 
This decision will have a very tangible impact on New York State, the public's health and our quality of life. Increased pollution from coal-fired smokestacks will make our acid rain problems worse, wreaking further havoc on our lakes, streams and forests. Allowing the nation's dirtiest power plans to increase their output without new pollution controls will also increase respiratory disease. With more and more children suffering from asthma and respiratory illnesses, now is not the time to weaken air standards for big polluters such as power plants, refineries and chemical plants.

 

Over a period of thirty years, General Electric (GE) dumped over one million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) directly into the Hudson River from its facilities in Hudson Falls and Fort Edward, NY. A decade of independently examined scientific studies has determined that the PCBs will continue to pose an unacceptable risk to human health and the environment unless they are removed. I have led the effort to rid the river of these toxins.

 

In February 2002, EPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) that calls for the PCBs to be removed from the Hudson and requires GE to pay for the cleanup. Since then GE has done its best to delay the start of this important work and to avoid its responsibility. Early in 2003, EPA announced that it is pushing back the start of the PCB cleanup by one year, from 2005 to 2006. Moreover, GE has only agreed to reimburse EPA a tiny portion of what it owes for the work that has already been done. GE is starving the agency of the necessary resources to keep the cleanup on schedule, and sticking taxpayers with the bill. The decision to clean up the Hudson is one of the Bush Administration's few positive environmental initiatives. It is a great disappointment that EPA has been unable to keep the cleanup on track.

 

In 1999, 168 of my colleagues joined my successful effort to convince the Clinton Administration to protect the remaining roadless areas of our national forests, including the pristine Tongass National Forest in Alaska. After being reaffirmed by the 9th District U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April 2003, the Roadless Rule is the law of the land but the Bush Administration is not enforcing it. Despite earlier pledges to uphold the rule, the administration is intent on eviscerating this landmark conservation achievement for the benefit of special interests. Given the scientific basis for the policy and its popularity with the public, it's shameful but not surprising that President Bush has consistently worked to weaken and undermine it.

 

Nowhere is the need for the protection of roadless forests more apparent than in the Tongass and Chugach National Forests in Alaska. This administration is so eager to log in Alaska that they've already scheduled 50 timber sales in roadless areas in the Tongass. The Tongass is our largest national forest and without protection it is where 50 percent of all roadless area logging and road building is expected to occur in the next four years. The only thing holding back the chainsaws in Alaska is the Roadless Rule.

 

I am an original cosponsor of the National Forest Roadless Conservation Act, which would mandate protection of these important areas.

Red Rock Wilderness
I am the sponsor of the America's Red Rock Wilderness Act, which would protect 9.1 million acres of Utah's publicly owned red rock canyonlands from degradation. The Red Rock Wilderness is already owned by all of the people of the United States and should be considered a national treasure just like the Grand Canyon or the Statue of Liberty. This terrain cannot bear much use or development and the treasures it holds are too rare and special to be exploited. These lands and the wildlife that inhabit them deserve the protection that permanent wilderness designation would offer.