Environmental Highlights:
Federal Government Actions

The nation's air is much cleaner today than it was 35 years ago. Over the last three decades, total emissions of six principal air pollutants have decreased by 54 percent. Remarkably, this progress has occurred even while the U.S. Gross Domestic Product increased 187 percent, energy consumption increased 47 percent, and vehicle miles traveled increased 171 percent.

• This progress will continue with implementation of the Administration's new Clean Air Interstate Rule, the Clean Air Non-road Diesel Rule, and the President's Clear Skies legislation, which will result in a 70 percent cut in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury emissions from power plants.
• The trend of annual loss of wetlands has been reversed, and steady progress is being made on President Bush's Earth Day 2004 Wetlands Initiative, which will create, improve, and protect at least three million wetland acres over the next five years in order to increase overall wetland acres and quality.
• Restoration and redevelopment of abandoned industrial sites known as brownfields is accelerating at a faster pace than before due to legislation supported and signed by President Bush early in his first term. Since 2001, nearly 1,500 brownfield sites are now ready for productive reuse, protecting public health, leveraging jobs, and revitalizing communities.
• The President is meeting his commitment to reduce the National Park Service maintenance backlog. His 2006 budget request includes a $144 million increase over 2005 enacted levels for maintenance and construction at our parks, meeting his funding commitment of $4.9 billion over five years.

To accelerate our national progress towards a cleaner, healthier, safer environment, Administration policies ensure decision making is based on the best data and science. They also encourage innovation and the development of new, cleaner technologies as the foundation for our nations future.

President Bush also believes in building on America’s ethic of environmental stewardship and personal responsibility through education and volunteer opportunities - providing additional opportunities for States, tribes, local communities, and individuals to be involved in protecting our shared heritage.

The President’s initiatives and accomplishments like the ones below reflect this overarching philosophy.

Economic Growth and Reduced Air Emissions

Each year EPA looks at emissions of air pollutants that affect the ambient concentrations of these pollutants. Our most recent estimates go through 2004. These annual emissions estimates are used as one indicator of the effectiveness of our programs. The graph below shows that between 1970 and 2005, gross domestic product increased 195 percent, vehicle miles traveled increased 178 percent, energy consumption increased 48 percent, and U.S. population grew by 42 percent. During the same time period, total emissions of the six principal air pollutants dropped by 53 percent. For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/

From 1990 to 2002, air toxics emissions declined by 42 percent. Those reductions are the result of implementing stationary and mobile source regulations. Seventy-five percent of air toxics emitted in 2002 are included below as volatile organic compound and particulate matter emissions.

Conserving America’s Wetlands: Implementing the President’s Goal

On Earth Day 2004, President Bush celebrated the opportunity to move beyond the federal policy of “no net loss” of wetlands, and called for a new commitment to attain an overall increase in the quality and quantity of wetlands in America.

In April of 2005, The Council on Environmental Quality released "Conserving America's Wetlands," a report to Congress that is the first comprehensive look at progress toward the President’s goal. The Bush Administration, in partnership with states, communities, tribes, and private landowners, and with additional program funding, is on track to meet or exceed the President’s goal.

Since April of 2004, 832,000 acres of wetlands have been restored, created, protected or improved. More specifically, over the past year:

• 328,000 acres were restored or created;
• 154,000 acres were improved;
• 350,000 acres were protected.

The report also highlights anticipated progress from April 2005 through the end of fiscal year 2006, in which the Bush Administration expects an additional 1.6 million acres to be restored, created, improved, or protected. "Conserving America's Wetlands" is available at http://www.coastalamerica.gov.

Land Conservation and Stewardship

• Healthy Forests Initiative
  http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/healthyforests/
  
  On December 3, 2003, President Bush signed legislation implementing key provisions of his Healthy Forests Initiative. The President's initiative is helping restore the health and vitality of forests and rangelands, and helping reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires. This is benefiting communities and wildlife habitats.

• National Parks: Restoring the Quality of Our Cultural, Natural and Historic Resources
  http://www.doi.gov/initiatives/parks.html
  
  The President is fulfilling his commitment to address the park maintenance backlog. The President’s FY 2006 budget includes a $144 million increase over 2005 enacted levels for maintenance and construction at our parks, meeting the President’s 2000 campaign commitment of $4.9 billion over five years. Passage of the 2006 budget and the Administration’s surface transportation reauthorization bill will provide a 40% increase in annual maintenance funding from 2001 to 2006. With the funds expected through 2009, National Park Service assets such as park buildings will be brought to acceptable condition overall, as measured by the Facility Condition Index average, another Bush Administration implementation.

• 2002 Farm Bill: Helping America's Farmers Conserve Their Lands
  http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdafarmbill?navtype=SU&navid=FARM_BILL_FORUMS
  
  President Bush supported and signed into law a Farm Bill that enhances conservation and environmental stewardship. Under this Administration, funding has nearly doubled for these effective programs. The Farm Bill conservation programs are providing up to $38 billion over a decade to restore millions of acres of wetlands, protect habitats, conserve water, and improve streams and rivers near working farms and ranches.

• Cooperative Conservation
  http://www.cooperativeconservation.gov/
  
  In August, 2004, President Bush signed Executive Order #13352 entitled Facilitation of Cooperative Conservation. The order directs the Departments of Defense, the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce and the Environmental Protection Agency to implement laws relating to the environment and natural resources in a manner that promotes cooperative conservation, with an emphasis on local involvement.

  To advance the spirit and objectives of the order, the President called upon the White House Council on Environmental Quality to convene a Conference on Cooperative Conservation. The 2005 White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation was a national assembly of nearly1300 leaders from across the nation. Throughout the event, a number of unique and innovative ideas were generated for strengthening conservation partnerships and promoting citizen stewardship. The President’s new Task Force on Cooperative Conservation has been tasked with implementing the major recurring themes from the conference and coordinating the administrative, legislative and regulatory steps necessary to meet the directives set forth in Executive Order 13352.

Improving Our Air Quality

• Clear Skies Initiative
  http://www.epa.gov/clearskies
  
  President Bush's initiative, which has been introduced in Congress, would dramatically improve air quality by reducing power plants' emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury, by approximately 70 percent over the next 15 years, more than any other clean air initiative. This historic proposal will bring cleaner air to Americans faster, more reliably, and more cost-effectively than under current law.

• Clean Air Interstate Rule
  http://www.epa.gov/cair/
  
  On March 10, 2005, EPA issued the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), a rule that will achieve the largest reduction in air pollution in more than a decade. CAIR will ensure that Americans continue to breathe cleaner air by dramatically reducing air pollution that moves across state boundaries. In 2015, CAIR will provide health and environmental benefits valued at more than 25 times the cost of compliance.

  CAIR will permanently cap emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the eastern United States. CAIR achieves large reductions of SO2 and/or NOx emissions across 28 eastern states and the District of Columbia. When fully implemented, CAIR will reduce SO2 emissions in these states by over 70 percent and NOx emissions by over 60 percent from 2003 levels. This will result in $85 to $100 billion in health benefits and nearly $2 billion in visibility benefits per year by 2015 and will substantially reduce premature mortality in the eastern United States. The benefits will continue to grow each year with further implementation.

• Mandating a Cut in Mercury Emissions for the First Time Ever
  http://www.epa.gov/camr/
  
  Mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants comes from mercury in coal, which is released when the coal is burned. While coal-fired power plants are the largest remaining source of human-generated mercury emissions in the United States, they contribute very little to the global mercury pool. Recent estimates of annual total global mercury emissions from all sources -- both natural and human-generated -- range from roughly 4,400 to 7,500 tons per year. Human-caused U.S. mercury emissions are estimated to account for roughly 3 percent of the global total, and U.S. coal-fired power plants are estimated to account for only about 1 percent.

  On March 15, 2005, EPA issued the Clean Air Mercury Rule to permanently cap and reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants for the first time ever. This rule makes the United States the first country in the world to regulate mercury emissions from utilities. The Clean Air Mercury Rule will build on EPA's Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to significantly reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants. When fully implemented, these rules will reduce utility emissions of mercury from 48 tons a year to 15 tons, a reduction of nearly 70 percent.

• Reduction in Emissions from Non-Road Heavy-Duty Diesels
  http://www.epa.gov/nonroad/
  
  In May 2004, as part of its Clean Diesel Programs, EPA finalized a comprehensive rule to reduce emissions from nonroad diesel engines by integrating engine and fuel controls as a system to gain the greatest emission reductions. The new engine standards will reduce PM and NOx emissions by more than 90 percent. Closely linked to these engine provisions are new fuel requirements that will decrease the allowable levels of sulfur in fuel used in nonroad diesel engines, locomotives, and marine vessels by more than 99 percent. These fuel improvements will create immediate and significant environmental and public health benefits by reducing PM from engines in the existing fleet of nonroad equipment. It also makes it possible for engine manufacturers to use advanced emission control technologies, similar to those upcoming for highway diesel trucks and buses.

  These reductions in NOx and PM emissions from nonroad diesel engines will provide enormous public health benefits. EPA estimates that by 2030, controlling these emissions will annually prevent 12,000 premature deaths, 8,900 hospitalizations, and one million work days lost. The overall benefits ($80 billion annually) of this rule outweigh the costs by a ratio of 40 to 1.

• Fuel Savings From Light Trucks
  For the first time in a decade, the Administration raised Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for SUVs, vans and pick-up trucks. Reforms are also underway that will save more fuel while protecting consumer safety and American jobs.

Improving the Quality of Our Waters

• EPA's Lake Guardian research vessel conducts Great Lakes monitoring programs to sample the water, aquatic life, sediments, and air to assess the health of the Lakes ecosystem.

  Restoring Our Great Lakes
  http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/collaboration/index.html
  
  More than one-tenth of the population of the United States and one-third of the population of Canada live around the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes themselves are the largest system of fresh surface water on Earth, containing about 20 percent of the world supply. The President's FY2007 budget provides nearly $50 million to fund sediment cleanup activities under the Great Lakes Legacy Act, an increase of approximately $20 million over 2006 enacted levels. The additional funding will allow EPA, in conjunction with its community partners, to continue remediating contaminated sediments in the Great Lakes Basin.
  
  In May 2004, President Bush signed an Executive Order establishing the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, which, under EPA's leadership, brings together ten Agency and Cabinet officers to provide strategic direction on federal Great Lakes policy, priorities and programs. The Executive Order also encouraged the creation of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, a partnership of federal, state, local, and tribal representatives, and members of the Great Lakes Congressional delegation, who worked with nongovernmental stakeholders from throughout the Great Lakes basin to develop a Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes. The Collaboration's Strategy was released on December 12, 2005.
  http://www.glrc.us.
  
  
• Water 2025
  http://www.doi.gov/water2025/
  
  The Water 2025 Initiative helps states, tribes, and local communities improve conservation, implement efficiencies, and monitor water resources.

Through the Challenge Grant Program, the Interior Department's Bureau of Reclamation provides 50/50 cost share funding to irrigation and water districts and states for projects focused on water conservation, efficiency, and water marketing. Projects are selected through a competitive process, based on their ability to meet the goals identified in Water 2025: Preventing Crises and Conflict in the West. The focus is on projects that can be completed within 24 months that will help to prevent crises over water.

In some cases, collaborative approaches and market-based transfers can use water banks or other means to meet emerging needs. Federal investments in research and development will provide more affordable water treatment technologies, such as desalination, to increase water supplies in critical areas.

A Growth-Oriented Approach to Global Climate Change: A Synopsis

• Global Climate Change Policy
  http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/02/climatechange.html
  
  President Bush has committed America to meeting the long-term challenge of global climate change by reducing the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions to economic output by 18 percent by 2012 compared to 2002. Greenhouse gas intensity is the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions to economic output. This approach focuses on reducing the growth of GHG emissions, while sustaining the economic growth needed to finance investment in new, clean energy technologies. It sets America on a path to slow the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, and – as the science justifies – to stop and then reverse that growth, in a manner consistent with our commitments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). To meet this ambitious goal, the Administration has in place more than 60 voluntary, incentive-based, and mandatory programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with total FY2007 proposed funding over $6.5 billion.

• Climate Change Science Program
  http://www.climatescience.gov
  
  The President’s FY2007 budget provides approximately $1.7 billion across 13 agencies for the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP). This Budget continues to support the goals outlined in the Climate Change Science Program Strategic Plan, which was released in July 2003. Through coordinating focused research in key areas of climate change science, the CCSP works to enhance understanding of natural and human-induced changes in the Earth’s global environmental system; to monitor, understand, and predict global change; and to provide a sound scientific basis for national and international decision making. This year, the CCSP will publish the first of 21 Synthesis and Assessment Reports, which will help provide the best available knowledge of climate change science in a form useful to decisionmakers.

• Climate Change Technology Program
  http://www.climatetechnology.gov
  
  The President's FY2007 budget provides approximately $3 billion across 12 agencies for Climate Change Technology Program (CCTP). CCTP activities help to reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions through energy research, development, and deployment efforts and a variety of voluntary partnership and grant activities. The CCTP published a Vision and Framework document and draft Strategic Plan that together outline the program’s goals and mission and describe federally funded technology options. CCTP activities will have the effect of stimulating the development and use of certain energy technologies, including renewable, fossil, and nuclear technologies as well as energy efficient technologies, products, and process improvements.

• Carbon Sequestration and FutureGen Initiative
  http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/futuregen/
  
  To enable continued use of fossil fuels with fewer greenhouse gas emissions, the Administration is developing a portfolio of geologic and biological technologies and practices that can capture and permanently store greenhouse gases - carbon sequestration. In February 2003, President Bush announced that the United States would sponsor, with international and private sector cost-sharing partners, a $1 billion, 10-year project to create the world’s first coal-based, near-zero atmospheric emissions electricity and hydrogen power plant. This project is designed to dramatically reduce air pollution and capture and store greenhouse gas emissions. When operational, the prototype will be the cleanest fossil fuel fired power plant in the world.

• Hydrogen Fuel Initiative and FreedomCAR Partnership
  http://www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/
  
  Announced by the President in his 2003 State of the Union address, this $1.7 billion, 5-year initiative involves partnering with the private sector to research and develop hydrogen infrastructure technologies that complement development of technologies to advance commercialization of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles. Transitioning to hydrogen as an energy carrier produced from a variety of clean energy sources could lead to a significant reduction of air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector worldwide. Through this Initiative, the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by pollution-free fuel cells.

• Climate VISION Partnership
  http://www.climatevision.gov
  
  In February 2003, President Bush announced that the 12 major industrial sectors and the membership of the Business Roundtable have committed to work with four Cabinet agencies (DOE, EPA, DOT, and USDA) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade. Participating industries included America's electric utilities; petroleum refiners and natural gas producers; automobile, iron and steel, chemical and magnesium manufacturers; forest and paper producers; railroads; and the cement, mining, aluminum, and semiconductor industries.

• Climate Leaders Program
  http://www.epa.gov/climateleaders/
  
  Climate Leaders is an EPA industry-government partnership that works with companies to develop long-term comprehensive climate change strategies. Partners set a corporate-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goal and inventory their emissions to measure progress. Climate Leaders Partners come from a variety of sectors, from heavy manufacturing to banking and retail. Since its inception in 2002, Climate Leaders has grown to include nearly 100 corporations whose revenues add up to almost 10 percent of the United States’ gross domestic product and U.S. emissions represent nearly 10 percent of total U.S. GHG emissions.

• Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate
  http://www.state.gov/g/oes/climate/app/
  
  This partnership was formally launched in January 2006 by the United States, China, India, South Korea, Australia, and Japan to promote clean development, enhance energy security, and address climate change challenges. Partners will focus on practical, voluntary measures that can create new investment opportunities, build local capacity, and remove barriers to the introduction of clean, more efficient technologies. The partnership will help each country meet nationally designed strategies for improving energy security, reducing pollution, and addressing the long-term challenge of climate change.

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