From the Office of Senator Kerry

Monday, June 23, 2003

WASHINGTON, DC – Earlier today, EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman presented the findings of the Draft Report on the Environment to the American public. This draft report has been touted as “the first-ever national picture of environmental quality and human health in the United States.” Senator John Kerry issued the following statement regarding the release of the report:

“Unfortunately, the reality of this ‘national picture’ is bleak. It includes: dirtier air because the Bush Administration has relaxed the laws governing polluting power plants; unhealthy drinking water because the Bush Administration has gutted important provisions in the Clean Water Act; and more dangerous toxic waste sites in our communities because the Bush Administration refuses to make polluters pay to clean them up.

“What good does it do us when the person in the White House only listens to corporate polluters and big money instead of protecting human health and the environment? If the Bush Administration wouldn’t even allow the draft report to be released without first omitting important, science-based findings on climate change, I’m at a loss to understand how any of the findings in this report will ever be translated into meaningful action.”

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