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WASHINGTON – The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today approved by a 10-9 vote legislation by Committee Chairman Jim Jeffords (I-VT), Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) to limit four harmful pollutants emitted from power plants. Those pollutants have had a significant negative impact on Connecticut and other Northeastern states.
"Connecticut is plagued by the smog caused by nitrogen oxide emissions, has been devastated by acid rain caused by sulfur dioxide emissions, and has nary a fishing hole where there isn't a warning about mercury levels in the fish." Lieberman said at the committee's meeting today. "The fact is, if we don't fight this problem today, it may become impossible to right it tomorrow."
Regarding the curbing of carbon dioxide emissions -- the provision which separates the bill from proposals supported by the White House -- Lieberman, who chairs the EPW Clean Air and Climate Change Subcommittee added, "Shame on us if 100 or 200 years from now our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are living on a planet that has been irreparably damaged by global warming, and they ask, how could those who came before us, who saw this coming, have let this happen? They had the tools, the technology, and the talent to deal with this. How could they have left us with this problem when it would have been so much easier to grapple with it back then, with only a little foresight?"
The Clean Power Act, which now awaits consideration by the full Senate, would set limits on power plant emissions of four pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and carbon dioxide. Collectively, these pollutants contribute to smog, acid rain, global warming, and many adverse health effects.
Lieberman praised Chairman Jeffords for his leadership in advancing the legislation, and said that the bill demonstrates that America's energy needs and environmental concerns need not be mutually exclusive. It would provide the utility industry with broad flexibility to meet those limits by allowing them to use a market-based allowances system encouraging development of innovative new technologies, and make it clear to industry, for their planning purposes, what their future obligations will be.
Lieberman also embraced the spirit of alternative proposals offered by Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), and expressed eagerness to continue negotiations as the bill moves to the floor of the Senate.
Two recent reports by the Bush Administration highlight the need for the legislation. The first, a study of the health risks of air pollutants, concluded that two-thirds of Americans have an increased risk of cancer from these toxic pollutants, in particular mercury emissions from power plants. The second, an Administration report on climate change, was the clearest affirmation yet that the earth is warming due to human-released greenhouse gas emissions.
In contrast to the Clean Power Act, President Bush's proposal to address air pollution – his "Clear Skies" initiative – would provide fewer and slower reductions in pollution than the current Clean Air Act. Unlike the bill approved by the committee today, Bush's plan leaves out any controls on carbon dioxide emitted by power plants, which are the source of 10 percent of the world's total emissions of this greenhouse gas.
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