Environment

Environment

All Americans have a right to breathe clean air, drink clean water and live, work and play on safe uncontaminated land. Ongoing Bush Administration efforts to roll back environmental protections, including the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, must not continue. Furthermore, the reality of climate change has been established beyond any reasonable doubt, and the current Congress's unwillingness to take action to address our dependence upon fossil fuels endangers us all. The time has come for a new vision of the future, one that recognizes that protecting our environment is not just a nice thing to do: it is necessary for our health, our economy, our communities, and our way of life.

Air Pollution and Mercury The Bush administration has launched an assault on the natural environment. Hard-won protections for clean air and water have been systematically rolled back, despite overwhelming evidence of damage, not just to the environment but to our health as well.

A glaring example of this is the EPA's relaxation of its former standards for mercury pollution. The EPA itself estimates that hundreds of thousands of infants are at risk of reduced IQ because their mothers have eaten mercury-laden fish from our lakes, streams and rivers. Additional evidence links mercury contamination to cardiovascular disease in adult men. Despite this, the EPA's pollution trading rule requires no mercury pollution reductions until 2018. All power plants should be required to install the "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT) within three years as would have been required under the former EPA rules.

Placing Environment on the Global Trade Agenda. If industry in other countries is allowed an unfair trade advantage due to lax environmental standards in those countries, then the whole world pays the price. International trade agreements should include basic environmental standards that ensure a level playing field for American workers and businesses.

Superfund Cleanup. Onondaga Lake, part of the national Superfund program, is just one glaring example of Republican failures in environmental protection and restoration. In fact, take a look at the record and you'll find that the pace of Superfund cleanups has dropped by almost 50 percent since the beginning of the Bush Administration. I will fight to strengthen this vital program nationwide and ensure that polluters, not taxpayers, pick up the tab to repair environmental damage.

Protecting American Parks and Open Spaces. I support limitations on logging in national forests, including the rule placing one-third of forest land off-limits to road-building and logging. I also support funding that aids community efforts to protect parks and open spaces.

A "Manhattan Project" for Energy Independence. Dependence upon fossil fuels generally, and foreign oil specifically, is the single largest threat to America's security, economy and natural environment. Our dependence upon fossil fuels contributes to global warming and the attendant increasing number and severity of natural disasters. It ties our hand in foreign policy, making us dependent upon autocratic or unstable regimes for the lifeblood of our economy. It leaves our businesses at the mercy of spiraling energy and shipping prices. The time has come to make a bold forward-looking investment in our future.

Such a program should include the following major points:

1. Reasonable increases in CAFE standards. Fuel-efficient cars represent the future of the auto industry, but this is not their responsibility alone. Auto makers worry that increased CAFE standards will create an undue burden for an already distressed industry. This does not have to be the case. We can have reasonable increases in CAFE standards while protecting American jobs. Currently, General Motors spends more on health care costs ($1,500 of the price of every car) than steel. The federal government should step in to take up some of the health care burden, thus freeing up U.S. auto makers to invest in their future - developing cutting edge fuel efficient technology that will once again make America a leader in the world market.
2. Major research into perfecting alternative fuels. This should include hydrogen technology, fuel cells, solar, wind, hydro, cellulosic ethanol and biomass. Spearheading such research will put America in a position to lead the world in alternative energy innovation. Upstate New York is already positioned to take the lead in such an effort with existing research facilities including SUNY ESF's Center for Sustainable and Renewable Energy. Last year's energy bill gave the lion's share of incentives to oil and gas. That policy should be reversed so that renewable energy sources and related research like that being carried out in upstate New York, earn the incentives. This policy will offer a powerful economic stimulus to high tech industries and will have spin-off effects that will help the larger economy as well.
3. Renewed investment in public transportation. Improvements to the nation's public transportation infrastructure are badly needed. In 1997, I was on the staff of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan when he was working to extend the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). ISTEA substantially increased funding for public transportation and encouraged federal support for bicycle paths and rails to trails initiative. I have seen this work in the past to make communities more livable by reducing congestion and car pollution. I am committed to ensuring and enhancing the federal investment in New York road repair, highway infrastructure, and public transit. My program includes installing a transit system that relies on compressed natural gas (CNG) buses and a vision for rail service to larger economic hubs to boost telecommuting opportunities. I believe that providing commuters with livable transit options strengthens the economy while helping protect the environment for future generations.

http://www.maffeiforcongress.com/environment.cfm