Issue Positions: Environment and Energy
Issue Position
Issue Positions: Environment and Energy
Clean water, clean air and protecting our natural treasures are among my top priorities in the Senate. This includes moving the United States toward energy independence within a decade, reducing global warming, and helping restore and protect Maryland's greatest natural resource: the Chesapeake Bay.
As a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, I continue to champion increased fuel economy standards for vehicles, improved "Green Building" standards to reduce energy consumption, and an expansion of our national park system to include the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail and the new Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.
I also have...
* Co-sponsored the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, which would reduce global warming by requiring a 70% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050;
* Co-sponsored Reducing Global Warming Pollution from Vehicles Act, allowing Maryland and 14 other states to adopt California standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks; and,
* Championed enactment of the Water Resources Development Act, containing important water projects for Maryland and a new federal commitment to improving the Chesapeake Bay.
Environment and Energy
Does Senator Cardin support opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling?
I do not support opening ANWR to oil drilling. Currently, there are 68 million acres of leased federal lands that are not producing oil and just 23.6 million actually producing. There are 33.5 million acres of the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lands that are under lease but are NOT being drilled. There are 34.2 million acres of the federal onshore lands that are under lease but are NOT being drilled. Rather than tap current sources - 68 million acres of land - this Administration's answer to our energy crisis is make an issue of opening an additional 1.5 million acres of protected, environmentally sensitive land in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.
What is Senator Cardin doing to clean up pollution in the Chesapeake Bay?
Maryland's most treasured resource is the Chesapeake Bay. Nitrogen, phosphorous, and other pollutants from sewage systems, agricultural runoff and residential sprawl enter the Bay, fueling biological processes that remove oxygen from the water and kill marine life. To address this problem, Senator Mikulski and I introduced S. 1346, the Chesapeake's Healthy and Environmentally Sound Stewardship of Energy and Agriculture Act of 2007 (CHESSEA), which would promote clean water in the Chesapeake Bay, while providing approximately $200 million a year to Maryland farmers to implement a host of farmland conservation practices that are popular with farmers and highly effective.
For further information on how the Chesapeake Bay is doing check;
* http://www.chesapeakebay.net/
* http://www.cbf.org
What is Senator Cardin doing to preserve public lands, national parks, and wilderness area in Maryland and around the country?
I have been working on a range of management issues, from protecting coastal waters from offshore oil drilling to preserving the Alaska's pristine Bristol Bay and Utah's magnificent Redrock Wilderness. In addition, I am working to increase funding for our National Park System including the new Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, as well as to secure approval for a new Star Spangled Banner National Historic Trail that will commemorate America's struggles in the War of 1812 including the critical battle at Fort McHenry. I believe the federal government has a responsibility through its management and acquisition of public lands to be a steward of our environment for future generations.
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