Issue Position: Environment

Issue Position

Congresswoman Lowey is a leader in the fight to protect America's air, land, and water, and to stop global climate change. She is consistently among the Members of Congress rated most highly by the League of Conservation Voters, and was awarded a 100% rating for her voting record on issues important to LCV. As former Co-Chair of the Long Island Sound Caucus, she has secured tens of millions of dollars to rehabilitate this fragile ecosystem, rejuvenate the local fishing industry, and reduce beach closures. And as a founder of the Hudson River Congressional Caucus, Lowey has worked to promote the interests of this vital and historic watershed.

BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was an environmental disaster, contaminating the Gulf with millions of gallons of oil and crippling local economies.

Taxpayers should not be responsible for the costs of this disaster. BP must be held accountable for the environmental and economic damages and pay for every dime of cleanup costs.

Congresswoman Lowey is working to combat the spill and to ensure that a disaster like this does not happen again by supporting measures to:

* Create a $20 billion escrow account to ensure BP -- not taxpayers -- pays to restore the property, wages and livelihoods ruined by their carelessness.
* Allow the Coast Guard to obtain advances from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to underwrite the federal response to the oil spill.
* Increase the fee paid by oil companies to strengthen the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund from 8 cents per barrel to 34 cents per barrel.
* Provide funding to institutions that serve small businesses affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The Coast Guard, Department of Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Homeland Security and the Navy and Air Force are working to contain the environmental damage.

Americans have suggested over 20,000 valuable ideas to seal the well and prevent further contamination.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The Recovery Act seeks in part to spur technological advances in science and health and to invest in environmental protection and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits. The Environmental Protection Agency manages over $7 billion in projects and programs that will help achieve these goals, offers resources to help other agencies "green" a much larger set of Recovery investments, and administers environmental laws that will govern Recovery activities.

Lowey fought successfully to include significant funding in the federal stimulus bill for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), which helps states and municipalities upgrade water treatment infrastructure. This will directly assist Westchester County in modernizing water treatment facilities in Mamaroneck and New Rochelle to decrease nitrogen pollution in the Long Island Sound.

For more information about initiatives that will spur technological advances in science and health and to invest in environmental protection, please click here.

Clean Energy to Mitigate Global Climate Change

Congresswoman Lowey has been a consistent advocate of forceful action to stop global climate change. If greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere at the current rate, the world's ecology and economy will be severely disrupted, with dire consequences for billions of people.

Congresswoman Lowey supported H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, when it was brought before the House of Representatives on June 26th, 2009. This legislation will increase the availability and use of clean, renewable energy sources, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to eliminating 57 million cars from our roads. It will help our economy by creating millions of new, green jobs. It will increase our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil by more than 5 million barrels per day.

H.R. 2454 protects consumers from energy price increases. According to analyses by the Congressional Budget Office and Environmental Protection Agency, the legislation would cost households less than 50 cents per day in 2020, while household savings generated from greater efficiency standards could total over $4000.

Clean Water

Lowey is a staunch defender of Clean Water Act, which ensures that our water supply will be clean and safe. She has fought proposals that would permit unlimited development, filling, and pollution of 20 million acres of seasonal lakes and ponds, including smaller water bodies in New York, which could ultimately result in damage to larger water systems, such as the Hudson River.

As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, Lowey has worked to provide the resources EPA needs to keep our environment clean. She has also helped pass key conservation measures, and legislation to hold polluters accountable. She authored the landmark Water Pollution Control and Estuary Restoration Act, which provides federal assistance to rehabilitate crucial aquatic habitats. Lowey also supported, and the House passed, critical legislation in 2007 to authorize $14 billion for state and local governments to address water infrastructure needs, authorize $1.5 billion in grants related to solving sewer overflow problems, and establish a grant program to increase the useable water supply.

Lowey has provided vital support for local governments to provide for clean drinking water. For Fiscal Year 2010, Lowey supported $2.1 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to assist local communities fund sewer improvements and deliver clean water, and $1.38 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to protect the public from contaminants and improve drinking water systems.

Commercial and residential development in the New York City watershed also threatens the drinking water supplies of millions of New Yorkers. Lowey cosponsored legislation reauthorizing the New York City Watershed Protection program, which provides money for land acquisition and conservation around the Catskill-Delaware Reservoir system. To date, Congress has approved $31.4 million to protect the watershed.

As a founder of the Hudson River Congressional Caucus, Lowey secured the first-ever federal commitment to protect the Hudson River Greenway and has worked hard to ensure that the EPA moves forward with the proposed clean-up of 150,000 pounds of PCBs from 40 miles of the upper Hudson River. Her stewardship of the Croton reservoir, an unfiltered drinking water source for millions of New York City and Westchester residents, promises to obviate the need for a multi-billion dollar water filtration plant.

Clean Air

Congresswoman Lowey supports legislation that would allow states to continue enforcing tough pollution standards for dirty power plants. In the absence of strong federal pollution standards, Lowey believes New York should be permitted to maintain tougher clean air standards to protect public health and the environment. She has also fought to prevent changes to the Clean Air Act that would weaken restrictions against the emission of mercury from coal plants that have proven hazardous to human and environmental health.

Updated July 27, 2011

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