Posted on 04/21/2004 5:33:13 PM PDT by RWR8189
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Bush Administration Proposed Tough Off-Road Diesel Emissions. “The proposed rules, unveiled by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, would slash off-road diesel emissions by as much as 95 percent and bring them in line with recently adopted standards for heavy-duty diesel trucks and buses. They would reduce dangerous emissions from bulldozers, tractors, irrigation equipment and other diesel-powered machines that for decades have been held to a much weaker standard than on-road vehicles. … The Natural Resources Defense Council called it ‘the most significant public health proposal in decades.’” (Eric Pianin, “Tougher Rules Unveiled For Diesel Emissions,” The Washington Post, 4/16/03)
The Clear Skies Initiative Would “Create A Mandatory Program That Would Dramatically Reduce Power Plant Emissions Of Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) [By 73%], Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) [By 67%], And Mercury [By 69%] By Setting A National Cap On Each Pollutant.” (EPA Clear Skies Website, www.epa.gov/clearskies, Accessed 4/20/04; “Fact Sheet: President Bush Announces Clear Skies & Global Climate Change Initiatives,” White House Website, www.whitehouse.gov, Accessed 4/20/04)
Clear Skies Would Deliver Benefits To Human Health And Environment Beginning With Its Passage:
P “Human health benefits we can quantify grow to approximately $93 billion per year by 2020, substantially outweighing the annual costs of $6.5 billion (based on 2002 estimates).”
P “EPA projected that, by 2020, the public health benefits from Clear Skies would include 12,000 avoided premature deaths. An alternative methodology for calculating health-related benefits projects over 7,000 premature deaths prevented and $11 billion in health benefits – still far greater than the costs.”
P “Americans would also experience approximately 11,900 fewer visits to the hospital and emergency room, 370,000 fewer days with asthma attacks, and 2 million fewer work loss days each year under Clear Skies by 2020.”
P “Under Clear Skies, more than 20 million additional people would be breathing air that meets the national ozone and fine particle standards in 2020.” (Environmental Protection Agency, “Clear Skies Act Of 2003 Fact Sheet,” 2/27/03)
Clear Skies Is Modeled After Successful Acid Rain Reduction Program With Proven Results. “The acid rain reductions, contained in Title IV of the 1990 CAAA, are of special importance because they in part serve as a model for the Administration’s recent Clear Skies Initiative... . Title IV has, by all accounts, been highly successful. Gregg Easterbrook, a senior editor at the New Republic, wrote last summer that the results have been ‘spectacular. Acid rain levels fell sharply during the 90’s, even as coal combustion (its main cause) increased.’” (Scott H. Segal, Environment And Public Works Committee, U.S. Senate, Testimony, 3/12/02)
Clear Skies Will Remove More Pollutants Than The Clean Air Act. “Compared to the most stringent regulations allowed under current law, the President’s proposal will reduce SO2 emissions by at least an additional 25 million tons over the next decade, NOx emissions by at least an additional 10 million tons over the next decade, and mercury emissions by at least an additional 20 tons over the next six years from power plants.” (Environmental Protection Agency, “New EPA Data Shows Dramatic Air Quality Improvements From Clear Skies Initiative,” Press Release, 7/1/02)
National Research Council Study Endorses “Multi-State, Multi-Pollutant” Approach Of Clear Skies. “This new study from the National Research Council, a division of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that while air pollution is declining, the reduction could be accelerated by a ‘multi-state, multi-pollutant’ approach that sets broad overall reduction targets, then allows industrial facilities to trade reduction permits with each other. … Here’s what was missing from the coverage. The ‘multi-state, multi-pollutant’ approach just endorsed by the National Academy of Sciences is exactly what the Bush administration has proposed to adopt under its Clear Skies initiative.” (Gregg Easterbrook, Easterblogg, www.tnr.com/easterbrook.mhtml?pid=1276, Accessed 2/5/04)
ü National Research Council Study. “The committee that wrote the report recommended that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency use an approach that targets groups of pollutants instead of individual ones. Revised or new regulations also should consider how air pollution travels from state to state and across international borders. Market-based approaches, such as emissions cap-and-trade programs – which set limits on the overall amount of emissions from industry but allow individual companies to buy and sell pollution ‘allowances’ – should be used whenever practical and effective.” (The National Academies, “Clean Air Act Is Working, But Multipollutant, Multistate Approach And Stronger Focus On Results Are Needed To Meet Future Challenges,” Press Release, 1/29/04)
National Governors Association Supports The Flexible, Market-Based Approach. “Congress should pass legislation to establish a flexible, market based program to significantly reduce and cap emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and to promote voluntary reductions of carbon dioxide from electric power generators. The legislation should provide regulatory certainty by establishing reduction targets for emissions, phase-in reductions over a reasonable period of time, and provide market-based incentives, such as emissions-trading credits, to help achieve the required reductions.” (National Governors Association, “Regulation Of Pollution From Electric Power Plants,” Legislative Update, 9/24/02)
Adirondack Council Supports Clear Skies. “The Adirondack Council … praised President George W. Bush for making acid rain legislation a top domestic priority for Congress in the 2003 session. … ‘By making deep cuts in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury pollution from the nation’s smokestacks, we can protect our public lands and waters, and improve the lives of tens of thousands of Americans suffering from air pollution-related lung diseases,’” [said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian Houseal]. (Adirondack Council, “Adirondack Council Praises President Bush For Making Acid Rain Legislation A Top Priority For 108th Congress,” Press Release, 1/29/03)
Democrat Speaker Of West Virginia House Of Delegates Says Clear Skies Would Improve Visibility. “Clear Skies would place caps on emissions of three harmful pollutants - sulfur oxide, nitrous oxide and mercury. These new caps would result in an average emissions reduction of 70 percent by the year 2020. This significant improvement in the level of air emissions would reduce smog levels, improve visibility at national parks and help further protect our ecosystems from the adverse effects of acid rain.” (Bob Kiss, Op-Ed, “Congress Should Pass Clear Skies, It Makes Sense Environmentally And Economically,” Charleston [WV] Daily Mail, 4/19/03)
Clear Skies Benefits Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “Jim Renfro, air quality specialist with Great Smoky Mountains National Park, said it would take large reductions in sulfur and nitrogen emissions to protect public health and restore the park's ecosystem. Renfro said that overall he considers the Clear Skies Act to be a positive overall step that should reduce pollutants in the park by 70 to 80 percent over the next 10 to 15 years. ‘These are large reductions no matter how you look at it,’ Renfro said. ‘The benefits are clearly there. … We are in an area that will clearly benefit the most from the Clear Skies Initiative,’ Renfro said. ‘When those reductions start to occur - and most of the improvements will be in the East - the Smokies will be downwind where those improvements are going to happen.’” (Morgan Simmons, “Clear Skies Act Will Hurt Park, Group Says,” Knoxville [TN] News-Sentinel, 3/9/03)
A Balance Can Be Struck Between Growth And Clean Air Consciousness. Former Rep. Bob Clement (D-TN), a former Tennessee Valley Authority board member, stated last year that Clear Skies has “a lot of merit.” There was no interest in a proposal by Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT), “which would establish more stringent reductions in air pollution. Rep. Clement . . . said the Jeffords bill ‘will cost billions of dollars for TVA ratepayers’ should it become law. He said while he favors clean air and water, ‘We’ve got to use some common sense and judgment, too. I’m not for shutting down our industry and putting hundreds of thousands out of work.’” (Andy Sher, “Senate Hopefuls Support Bush Environment Plan,” Chattanooga Times Free Press, 7/8/02)
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Kerry Wrong On ANWR
Teamsters And Other Labor Groups Support Oil Exploration In ANWR. “The Teamsters and other labor groups support the inclusion of oil and gas leasing on the coastal plain of the ANWR in the National Energy Security Act of 2001. More than 735,000 new jobs would be created by the legislation.” (International Brotherhood Of Teamsters, “Teamsters Lead Grassroots ANWR Support,” Press Release, 4/17/01)
ü Teamsters President James Hoffa Called The Vote Against ANWR A “Betrayal Of Working Americans.” (Richard Simon, “Senate Blocks Oil Drilling In Arctic Reserve,” The Los Angeles Times, 4/19/02)
EIA Study Shows ANWR Would Reduce Oil Imports By 876,000 Barrels Per Day By 2025. According to the EIA, “[t]he opening of ANWR to oil and gas development includes the following impacts: Reducing the U.S. dependence on imported foreign oil; Improving the U.S. balance of trade; Extending the life of TAPS for oil; Increasing U.S. jobs; and Reducing world oil prices.” (Energy Information Administration, “Analysis Of Oil And Gas Production In The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” 3/04; US House Of Representatives Committee On Resources, “ANWR Development Would Increase Domestic Production by 20%, New Study Shows,” Press Release, 3/16/04)
ü 876,000 Barrels Per Day Would Supply Five Times As Much Gas As Massachusetts Uses Daily! (US House Of Representatives Committee On Resources, “ANWR Development Would Increase Domestic Production by 20%, New Study Shows,” Press Release, 3/16/04)
ü 876,000 Barrels Of Oil Is 9 Times As Much Oil Currently Being Added To Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (US House Of Representatives Committee On Resources, “ANWR Development Would Increase Domestic Production by 20%, New Study Shows,” Press Release, 3/16/04)
US Oil Production At Near 50-Year Low. “Kerry doesn’t get it. The reason Americans are faced with gasoline price spikes every several years or so is not because of OPEC, not because of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, not because of the crazy quilt of state and local fuel regulations, not because alternative and renewable fuels have been given short shrift. It’s because this country has done far too little to increase domestic crude oil production. In fact, oil production in the United States is near 50-year lows, according to the Energy Information Administration. … The decline in U.S. oil production coincides with the rising influence of the environmental left – to whom the party of Kerry is beholden – in shaping U.S. energy policy.” (Joseph Perkins, Op-Ed, “One Sure Way To Lower Gasoline Prices,” The San Diego Union-Tribune, 4/2/04)
ANWR Could Replace Saudi Arabian Oil. “Indeed, the United States is sitting on an untapped oil supply that could replace 30 years worth of U.S. oil imports from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis. But because of hysterical opposition from environmental activists, Kerry and his fellow Democrats in Congress have absolutely refused to allow any oil development whatsoever in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska. … Yet, candidate Kerry continues to oppose opening up the Arctic refuge to oil development, no matter how many billions of barrels of oil lie beneath its 19.5 million acres.” (Joseph Perkins, Op-Ed, “One Sure Way To Lower Gasoline Prices,” The San Diego Union-Tribune, 4/2/04)
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