I also hope that we will be able to build a relationship with the EPA under your leadership that will work towards crafting a progressive and balanced national environmental policy. As a Cabinet-level official charged with protecting the environment, the EPA Administrator must vigilantly inject her voice into all government decisions that might adversely impact the environment. I particularly hope that you will adopt a strong voice in crafting our nation's approach to the problems of climate change. Global warming is a very real and distressing phenomenon. I believe this is an area in which we must make progress, and I am very encouraged by the bold climate change action plan adopted by New Jersey under your leadership. I also am encouraged by the increasing consensus, all over the world and on both sides of the aisle, that global warming is real and needs to be addressed. At the international negotiations in the Netherlands last November, there were a number of positive signs that an acceptable agreement is possible in the context of the Kyoto Protocol. In your role as an advisor to the President on issues of environmental policy, I hope you will support steps to stop global warming.
Finally, although I recognize that you are now moving to a national office, I hope you will not lose sight of the environmental problems that persistently affect our home states in the Northeast. I know you share my concern regarding the transport of the smog-creating pollutant ozone into the Northeast. Since the passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments in 1970, transported pollution in Connecticut has measured at levels that exceed the public health standard by 80 percent. Under the stewardship of the Clinton Administration, the EPA began to take the steps needed to address this problem through regulations such as the NOx SIP Call, which as you know will help reduce smog in the Northeast. The Northeast also has benefitted from the solid backing of the EPA to restore the health of the Long Island Sound. I hope that these initiatives will continue under your leadership.
I look forward to hearing what your approach will be to these, and other, environmental problems that face our nation.