Gregg Moves Against Administration With Air Pollutant Legislation
WASHINGTON—Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) introduced environmental legislation on Wednesday that he said would aggressively reduce harmful emissions of pollutants from the nation’s power plants. This marks the second time in three months that Gregg has taken on the Bush administration’s “Clear Skies” initiative on air pollutants.
The Clean Air Planning Act of 2003, which Gregg co-sponsored with Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.), involves a “cap and trade” approach, which sets caps on overall emissions of the four major pollutants-carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury-but gives power plants the flexibility to choose the most effective way to meet those caps. For example, they can purchase “credits” from other companies whose emission levels are beneath the cap.
“New England and the Northeast have long suffered as the ‘tailpipe’ of the nation when it comes to air pollution and its detrimental effects on our environment,” Gregg said in a statement. “This bill follows the lead set by the state of New Hampshire by setting significant reductions in the overall output of pollutants into our air, including mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide.”
The “cap and trade” approach has proven successful for acid rain programs, Gregg said, and is also “market-friendly” because it minimizes the cost of complying with the regulations.
Gregg’s bill also calls on federal environmental agencies to provide specific local air quality forecasts nationwide. Gregg has already secured $6 million over the last two years for the development of this program in New Hampshire, which is expected to become operational in 2004.
Environmental groups have lauded Gregg for taking a stand against President Bush’s “Clear Skies” initiative, which they say is inadequate because of “loose regulations” and the fact that it does not include carbon dioxide, which is the number one pollutant associated with global warming.
“Gregg co-sponsoring the [bill] shows the disconnect between what the Bush administration has offered, which totally ignores C02, and mainstream public opinion on the need to clean up the oldest and dirtiest power plants, including dealing with global warming,” Jan Pendlebury, director of the New Hampshire State Environmental Trust, said in an interview.
Pendlebury said that the Environmental Trust and other environmental groups intend to draft a strong plan that will head off the problem of harmful emissions from power plants. It needs to be done, she said, to reduce air pollution and to deal with the ever-growing environmental threat posed by global warming.
“There are not too many people in mainstream America that do not believe global warming is a problem,” Pendlebury said. “The science has come out [on it], there is no dispute that this is happening and mainstream America believes it’s happening, and Sen. Gregg understands that and has rebuked the president’s plan.”
Published in Foster’s Daily Democrat, in New Hampshire.
