U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee - Larry E. Craig, Chairman - Jade West, Staff Director

April 18, 1997

Sustaining Environmental Progress Requires Modernizing Regulations

Earth Day 1997: A Time to Celebrate Our Progress and Focus on the Future

Tuesday, April 22, 1997, is the 27th annual celebration of Earth Day, and an opportunity for Republicans to:

Take pride in the progress that has been made over the past quarter-century (see fact sheet, attached);

Acknowledge that since the first Earth Day Americans have learned a great deal. We have a better understanding of successful environmental approaches; we have vastly improved our scientific understanding of environmental hazards; and public awareness and participation in environmental improvement have dramatically increased;

Assure Americans that Republicans will continue to work to improve environmental quality, and will do so by building on the successes and the experiences of the past. Improvements in environmental protection will require accelerating the growth of state, local, and individual responsibility; increasing the quality of the science used to make human health and environmental decisions; correcting wasteful and counterproductive approaches; and maintaining vigilance for new threats to our health and the environment.

Emergency Conditions Required Emergency Procedures

Even prior to the first Earth Day in 1970, the United States began leading the world in environmental progress, in part because the success as an industrialized nation had brought with it serious pollution problems, and in part because the United States has such a prosperous economy that we could afford a relatively large measure of environmental protection. By the 1960s, America's heritage was becoming increasingly damaged due to industry and individual disregard for the environment. Prior to Earth Day, the chemicals in the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire, our rivers were in danger of becoming open sewers, little care was being given to how economic development was affecting our native animal and plant species, smog choked our cities, and toxic chemicals too frequently were simply spewed into the air or dumped on the ground.

Today, we can celebrate the achievements of the last quarter-century. Despite the nay-saying by some of the professional environmental lobbyists and some officials of the Clinton Administration, America is in far better environmental shape than it was in 1970, despite a 30 percent increase in population and a doubling of the economy. The air is cleaner, our forests and wetlands are increasing, twice as many of our rivers are now swimmable and fishable, toxic emissions have declined, and recycling has increased (see talking points, attached).

Much of this progress has been due to Republican leadership. It was under a Republican President, Richard Nixon, that we saw the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Council on Environmental Quality, as well as the enactment of the national Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Waste Act, and the Endangered Species Act. Under Presidents Reagan and Bush, the Clean Air Act was strengthened, and international agreements were reached to ban the use of stratospheric-ozone-destroying CFCs and to voluntarily aim to reduce greenhouse gases.

As Problems Evolve, So Must Solutions

The progress we have made does not mean that we do not have to be vigilant to changing environmental circumstances. For example, the growth of the poultry industry is having an increasing impact on streams and rivers, including the Potomac. Nor does celebrating our past progress mean we should not modernize our environmental regulatory approaches based on the lessons we have learned about what works (incentives, market mechanisms, cooperation and respect for property rights, more local control, performance standards, and focus on solving public health problems), and what does not work as well (command and control, one-size-fits-all, failure to prioritize risks, failure to consider alternatives that are less harmful to other important values such as quality jobs that have good health plans, and failure to consider unintended adverse risks such as removing asbestos from schools which actually increased airborne asbestos).

The regulatory first aid needed during the pollution crisis of the 1960s is not necessarily the best long-term care for the next century. We have already reduced the easily identified and easily curtailed pollution -- mostly pollution from smokestacks, tailpipes, and factory waste streams. The next phase of environmental protection in America requires that we increase our reliance on measures that will be effective for the more disperse pollution problems.

A few programs (especially the Endangered Species Act and Superfund) have been serious failures and need overhauling to improve results and to reduce costs. Other programs, such as the Clean Water Act, have been qualified successes and need only fine tuning. Still others, such as the urban ozone control program, need to be revisited to see whether they deserve the degree of economic investment and personal sacrifice they have been receiving compared to a host of more serious health risks, particularly from poor diets, poverty, and antibiotic-resistant diseases.

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U.S. Environmental Accomplishments

1970 -1995

Clean Air:

According to the EPA, between 1970 and 1995, despite a doubling of the U.S. economy ($3.4 trillion to $6.7 trillion) and a 30 percent increase in population, the absolute levels of all six National Ambient Air Quality Standards' "criteria" air pollutants have decreased substantially, and have continued to decrease over the last decade:

Vehicle miles traveled have more than doubled between 1975 and 1990, but ground level ozone has decreased. Ground level ozone decreased by 18.5 percent between 1979 and 1993, and during that period, hydrocarbon emissions were reduced by half). Nitrogen oxide emission from highway vehicles declined seven percent between 1985 and 1995. However, nitrogen oxides from all sources increased 14 percent between 1970 and 1995.

Lead emissions have declined by 98 percent through the mandated elimination of lead in gasoline in the late 1970s.
Carbon monoxide emissions have decreased 23 percent (1970 to 1994).
Sulfur dioxide emissions have decreased 32 percent (1970 to 1994).
Particulate matter emissions have decreased 78 percent (1970 to 1994).

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 require significant new reductions in air pollution, especially in urban ozone and in sulfur dioxide emissions.

- Under the 1990 act, another round of sulfur reductions will be required of powerplants in the year 2000 by imposing a cap that is only 60 percent of the 1995 limit on the amount of sulfur allowed per million BTUs (from 2.0 down to 1.2 pounds per mmbtu).

- Under the 1990 act, the 1995 reformulated gasoline formula will have to be changed again by the year 2000 to meet a second round of VOC emissions reductions and a new nitrogen oxide reduction requirement.

Toxic Waste:

Superfund's Sad Record: After more than 16 years and $40 billion, only 137 sites have been removed from the Superfund's National Priorities List (1,206 remain), only 94 of these sites have been taken off the list during the Clinton Administration (which has added 97 sites to the NPL). Throwing more money at the program and mere "administrative reforms" will not solve the problem. The Superfund liability scheme is patently unfair, making any individual party who contributed hazardous waste to a dump site liable for the entire cleanup cost at that site. The Superfund liability scheme has resulted in years of delay and 30 to 70 percent of every dollar spent going to lawyers. During the Clinton Administration, the average age of sites on the National Priorities List has increased from 6.2 years to 9.1 years (to mid-April 1997).

Clean Water:

In a recent publication, EPA observed that our rivers, lakes and costal waters are cleaner today then 25 years ago, and 60 percent of those waters are safe enough in which to swim and fish. Another 22 percent are classified as in "good" condition, and just 14 percent are in "poor" condition. Remaining major sources of pollution are agricultural and urban runoff and improperly treated sewage.

Americans have been spending an estimated $53 billion per year ($536 per household) on clean water. About half of this money is borne by business, farmers and consumers; a third of the cost is paid by local taxpayers (mostly for sewage treatment); and the balance is paid by Federal taxpayers.

Since 1972, Federal taxpayers have invested over $66 billion in municipal wastewater treatment.
Even our Mississippi River is much cleaner than the great rivers of Europe, with one seventh the nitrates of the Thames and less than half of the organic pollution of the Seine.

Recycling:

We now recycle almost 35 percent of all our municipal waste (nearly 40 percent of all paper and more than 60 percent of all aluminum cans).

Forests:

The United States has more standing timber (62 million acres) now than it did in 1920, and more timber grows each year than is cut.

65 percent of our National Forest forest lands are already set aside and protected from logging.

Every 100,000 acres of managed timberlands in the Pacific Northwest is equivalent to 1.5 million acres of old growth Siberian forest, its major economic competitor.

Wetlands:

Wetlands are now increasing in the United States. According to research conducted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, during 1995, there were over 187,000 acres of wetlands additions just from three Fish and Wildlife Service and Department of Agriculture programs, not counting efforts by private groups, state and local governments, and the Corps of Engineers' wetlands mitigation permit program (at least half of the 46,000 acres of mitigation are viable). This total compares with an estimated 141,000 acres of wetlands converted to other uses that year, for a net gain of at least 70,000 net wetlands additions. This contrasts with EPA's claims last year that "Wetland losses have been significantly reduced, but between 70,000 and 90,000 acres are still being lost every year." This claim is based on surveys done during the 1980s. [Competitive Enterprise Institute].