Jeffords has say on EPA director

reformer.com/ ^ | 8/30/2003 | IAN BISHOP

[Patriotways]

Jeffords has say on EPA director

WASHINGTON -- Sen. James Jeffords, I-Vt., will be given a public platform to condemn the Bush administration's recent controversial changes to air pollution laws during the impending confirmation hearing of a new Environmental Protection Agency chief. As the ranking minority member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Jeffords is cast as the lead foil to Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, President Bush's nomination to succeed Christine Todd Whitman as EPA administrator.

Jeffords, a Republican Party defector rewarded by the Democrats with their top spot on the environment committee, led the chorus of Democrats and environmental groups condemning this week's change to the Clean Air Act.

He was working at his Vermont homestead on Friday, aides said, and could not be reached for comment on the looming hearings. However, in a statement, Jeffords said the change is "worse than ever expected. It undermines the environmental legacy of the first President Bush and guts decades of progress we've made on cleaning up dirty power plants."

The Bush administration this week cleared the way for power plants and factories to make serious facility upgrades without also improving pollution controls. Previously, power plants were required to make anti-pollution improvements for anything more than "routine maintenance."

The administration defended the change, and said it would make the 17,000 power plants, factories and refineries more efficient.

"This rule will result in safer, more efficient operation of these facilities and, in the case of power plants, more reliable operations that are environmentally sound and provide more affordable energy," said Marianne Horinko, the acting head of the EPA.

The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, added smoke to Jeffords' contention this week when it released a report that found the EPA relied more on anecdotal evidence from the industries affected in making the change than on scientific data.

Democratic presidential candidates, courting support from environmentalists and concerned another Green Party candidate could eat into their votes, were quick to lambaste change.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut issued scathing statements.

"As gas prices reach historic levels and (the) nation's energy infrastructure is pushed beyond its limits, the Bush administration has decided their energy policy will be of the special interests, by the special interests and for the special interests," Kerry said.

U.S. Rep. John Olver, D-Mass., has said changes in air pollution controls will have the most adverse impact on New England, where emissions from plants and factories from the Midwest are carried by the prevailing winds into the region.

[Maria S]

"A top Senate Democrat expected to be a leading voice against Gov. Mike Leavitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency has written a pointed letter about Leavitt's April deal to eliminate nearly 6 million Utah acres from study as potential wilderness."

Would the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument be part of that acreage in Utah?

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
http://chriscannon.house.gov/cannon/grand_staircase-escalante.html
On September 18, 1996, in the midst of the presidential campaign, President Clinton traveled to Arizona and designated the 1.7 million acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Southern Utah. The Monument is approximately the size of Connecticut. Utahns were outraged because the plan was not disclosed to Utahns or their elected leaders. Also, 175,000 acres of
Utah school trust lands were trapped inside the Monument. Ironically, Utahns would have supported some sort of protective designation in portions of the area. But, the lack of consultation led to a designation fraught with problems that the local residents, the State of Utah and the federal government will be forced to grapple with over the next decade or more.


REMARKS BY REP. CHRIS CANNON ON THE HOUSE FLOOR
"One Year Anniversary: Utah's Schools Shouldn't Continue to Pay for the
Creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument"


http://chriscannon.house.gov/cannon/utah_schools_shouldn.html
September 18, 1997

Mr. Speaker, today is the one year anniversary of President Clinton's declaration of the massive Utah Monument in my district.

Within the Monument are 175,000 acres of school trust lands. They contain vast deposits of coal, large quantities of oil, gas and hard rock minerals. The total value is in the billions of dollars.

A year ago, the President stood in Arizona and promised that "creating this national monument should not and will not come at the expense of Utah's children" and vowed to create a working group, including Utah's congressional delegation, to find equivalent lands for exchange.

A year later, no working group exists. No member of the Utah delegation has been contacted. And the Utah School Trust has been unable to open negotiations.

Mr. President, I ask for your help. With 48 of my colleagues, I am sending you today a letter asking for creation of the promised working group. The burden of your decision to create the Monument should not - it must not - fall on Utah's school children.

Thank you Mr. Speaker.

[cowpoke]

check out my new blog at http://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

[sauropod]

Will do.