Collins, Jeffords Reintroduce Clean Air Act to Clean Up Pollution
WASHINGTON—Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) introduced a new revision of the Clean Air Act Wednesday that they said would prevent the nation’s dirtiest and most polluting power plants from evading pollution controls.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Sens. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Collins and Jeffords outlined their Clean Air Power Act of 2003, and said it would dramatically reduce emissions of the four major power plant pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and mercury.
“Maine is tired of being the end of the exhaust pipe,” said Collins, emphasizing that New England is one of the most at-risk areas in the nation because it is downwind of almost all the power plants in the United States. “Our parks and our people have waited far too long for clean air.”
The senators are pushing the bill as a counter proposal to President Bush’s Clear Skies initiative, which calls for voluntary commitments by polluters to reduce emissions of harmful greenhouse gases. They say that Bush’s plan does not do enough and leaves too much to chance.
“Though it may make for good PR, voluntary programs like this just don’t produce results,” Lieberman said in a statement, citing the U.S. attempt to limit pollution on a voluntary basis after the 1992 climate change summit in Rio de Janeiro; in fact, he said, gas emissions actually increased by 14 percent from1990 to 2000. “We cannot afford to fall again for the false promise of promises alone.”
The proposed legislation would rely mainly on the successful cap-and-trade system, instituted in the Clean Air Amendments of 1990, which allows utilities greater flexibility in meeting their pollution reduction goals. At the same time, Collins and Jeffords said, their plan would not eliminate or supersede existing local and regional programs currently operating under the Clean Air Act.
Collins and Jeffords said that implementation of their bill would reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide by 81 percent from 2000 levels, nitrogen oxides by 71 percent and carbon dioxide by 21 percent, all in six years. Bush’s Clear Skies initiative, by comparison, promises reductions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by 70 percent, but not until 2018, while ignoring carbon dioxide.
“Certainty is a valuable commodity,” Jeffords said. “Our bill provides a clear signal on exactly what is expected of pollution sources and when.”
“The Jeffords-Collins bill does more to reduce smog, acid rain, mercury pollution and global warming than any other bill,” Collins said. “Our bill provides more public health and environmental benefits than any other serious proposal, and it provides them sooner.”
Jan Pendlebury, New Hampshire state director of the National Environmental Trust, emphasized what she described as the urgent need for widespread changes, citing the timeline and the inclusion of carbon dioxide in the Jeffords-Collins bill as the critical differences from Bush’s Clear Skies proposal.
She noted in an interview that the Bush plan’s goals would not be achieved until 2018, “but the gross domestic product is growing every year, which means you have more energy use. More energy use means more generation by fossil fuels, which means more carbon dioxide, there’s just no way around that.”
Pendlebury said that the Jeffords-Collins bill’s inclusion of carbon dioxide control is one of its most critical elements. Carbon dioxide pollution—the key ingredient in global warming—especially affects states like New Hampshire, whose second-largest industry is tourism.
“Because of polluted air last July, the White Mountains had an air quality alert last summer for elevations of over 3,000 feet—the first time that has ever happened in this state’s history,” she said.
Pendlebury cited 2002 as a “record year” for pollution in the state.
“Any step that reduces air pollution is a step in the right direction,” Collins said, but she and the others at the news conference agreed that reforms need to be swift and certain.
“We must start to make real progress,” Jeffords said. “We must do better.”
“I believe this is the year we can harness Senate support for clean air to pass vital legislation to address all four pollutants,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who also supports the Jeffords-Collins bill. “States like Maine are leading the way…. This legislation sends a powerful message to those who would pollute our air: your days are numbered.”
Published in Foster’s Daily Democrat, in New Hampshire.
