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Environment
Very few issues that Congress faces each year are as important to the public as protecting the environment. When voting on environmental legislation in the Senate, I have attempted to effectively balance protecting the environment with economic growth in Pennsylvania and the nation.
My major concerns for Pennsylvania’s environment include: abandoned mine problems, oil consumption, air pollution, out-of-state trash importation, sprawl, poor water quality, as well as the devastating effects of Superfund or similar contaminated sites in communities. In order to improve the quality of life in Pennsylvania, attract new business, and increase tourism and recreation, we must assure a healthy environment.
Our mining heritage has left many portions of Pennsylvania scarred both physically and economically. We should and do, though mostly at the state level, require coal operations to meet strict environmental and worker safety guidelines. However, beyond what we can do about future impacts, we must also address the many remaining problems from our coal heritage. Pennsylvania has over 250,000 acres of abandoned surface mines, 2,400 miles of streams that do not meet water quality standards due to drainage from abandoned mines, 38 underground mine fires, and 1,200 open portals and vertical shafts. Three people died last year alone in abandoned mine-related accidents.
The best way to address these problems is to reauthorize the Abandoned Mine Reclamation program, which was set to expire on June 30, 2005. I, along with Senator Robert Byrd, was successful in securing extensions of the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund through June 30, 2006. The amendment was passed as part of the fiscal year 2006 Interior Appropriations Bill. Once re-authorized, this effort will not only clean the environment and make Pennsylvania more attractive for business, tourism, and recreation; it will also create jobs throughout the Commonwealth.
One of my top energy priorities is reducing U.S. reliance on foreign oil, particularly from OPEC. To rely on unstable regions, such as the Middle East, for our energy needs is to court disaster. With this in mind, I introduced an energy bill amendment to reduce U.S. oil consumption by one million barrels per day by 2013. Furthermore, I voted to direct the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to develop new automobile fuel efficiency standards. To address energy consumption and air pollution in Pennsylvania, I have encouraged efforts to produce new technologies tailored to Pennsylvania’s environmental problems. For example, I have supported a unique project in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, that will transform waste coal into ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel or similar products–the first initiative of its kind in the U.S. I helped secure a $100 million U.S. Department of Energy grant for this plant, which holds the promise of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, while at the same time cleaning the air, using coal waste, and improving water quality by reducing acid mine drainage.
With regard to clean air, while the Clean Air Act has been highly effective in reducing air pollution, there is much more work to be done. Congress is considering legislation that would further reduce power plant emissions. I am currently reviewing several proposals to improve public health and the environment, including reducing fine particles that contribute to lung and heart diseases, mercury contamination in fish that threaten humans and emissions causing acid rain in Pennsylvania's bodies of water. Further, I have urged the President to address greenhouse gas emissions by having the United States, as the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, take a leadership role on climate change. During consideration of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, I introduced an amendment calling on the U.S. Congress to “enact a comprehensive and effective national program of mandatory, market-based limits and incentives on emissions of greenhouse gases.” The passage of this amendment on June 22, 2005, was a forward step towards enacting legislation to slow, stop, and reverse the growth of greenhouse emissions while protecting our economy and encouraging comparable action by our major trading partners and key contributors to global emissions. I have also supported efforts to reduce the amount of air pollution traveling into Pennsylvania from other states, which makes it that much more difficult to address our own air pollution problems.
Another of my top environmental priorities has been to reduce the amount of out-of-state waste imported into Pennsylvania landfills. In the 107th Congress, I introduced the Solid Waste Interstate Transportation and Local Authority Act of 2001, to place limitations on the receipt of out-of-state municipal solid waste and to authorize state and local controls over the flow of waste. Pennsylvania remains, by far, the largest waste importer, receiving over 9.1 million tons of municipal solid waste from out of the state in 2003, down from over 10 million tons in the previous year. However, this still represents 24% of the national total for interstate shipments. By comparison, Virginia, the second largest importer, received 5.4 million tons, 60% less than the amount received by Pennsylvania.
Additionally, Pennsylvania, home to two of the nation’s largest urban areas, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and in close proximity to New York City, is experiencing the phenomenon of urban sprawl. In 2003, I introduced a bill called the Highlands Stewardship Act, which would authorize $10 million annually for land conservation projects located within the highlands region. The environmentally unique Highlands area encompasses more than 2 million acres extending from eastern Pennsylvania through the States of New Jersey and New York to northwestern Connecticut and provides drinking water to over 15 million people. The legislation allows the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to work with Highlands States, local communities, local organizations, and willing land sellers to preserve high priority conservation lands in the region.
I believe it is also important to enhance and maintain Pennsylvania’s water quality. I supported the 1987 Clean Water Act amendments, which provided for the nation’s drinking water improvement. I also supported re-authorization of the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1996, which is the main federal law that ensures the quality of Americans’ drinking water. These laws have helped our nation make significant strides in cleaning its water. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I have consistently supported increased funding for the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Funds. Additional funding would address our impaired and aging water infrastructure, including discharges from aging sewer systems, urban storm water and other sources.
The Federal government has assisted states, through revolving funds and EPA’s State and Tribal Assistance Grant program, to construct projects benefiting the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with repairs to aging sewer systems, upgrades of older equipment, and improvements to treatment systems. One of Pennsylvania’s main challenges ahead is maintaining a clean and safe water infrastructure without major rate hikes to consumers. It is vital that the Federal government continue to maintain a strong partnership with States and local governments to share the burden of maintaining this vital resource. Making investments in clean water infrastructure and public health must remain a high priority.
Furthermore, I support Superfund reform, including attempts to speed up cleanups at toxic sites by minimizing litigation over liability for the parties least responsible for the pollution. On the Appropriations Committee, I have pressed annually for the highest level of funding possible for the Superfund program to expedite cleanups. I have also supported "brownfields" initiatives to identify idle or underused industrial and commercial sites where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination and return the land to productive use. Pennsylvania has an estimated 150,000 acres of brownfields with great potential for re-use.
In order to ensure that environmental issues receive their proper attention, I have supported elevating the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Department-level, renaming it the Department of Environmental Protection. I have also worked to help local communities in Pennsylvania through complicated environmental cleanups, including independent oversight of the EPA through the EPA National Ombudsman's office.
I have witnessed great environmental strides and contributed to important legislative measures during my years in the U.S. Senate. I pledge to continue working with the citizens of Pennsylvania and leaders in Washington to further the goals of environmental stewardship and economic growth.
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