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Rep. Tom Allen serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over environmental issues, including clean air, clean water, Superfund, brownfields, solid waste, and hazardous materials. He also serves on the Committee's Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee and its Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee.

From these positions, Rep. Tom Allen builds on the legacy of Maine’s environmental leaders, including Senators Ed Muskie and George Mitchell, who fought for clean air and a healthy environment.

Global Climate Change
Climate change is perhaps the most important environmental issues facing Maine, the United States, and the planet. As the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases, the United States must act to reduce emissions that are causing significant changes in our climate.

Maine leads the nation in combating climate change. It has joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, has enacted tough new emission standards for automobiles, and is aggressively seeking

to develop new sources of renewable energy. Governor John Baldacci is working with neighboring Canadian provinces to jointly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, climate change remains a global problem, and that requires national and international efforts. While Maine is doing the best it can, it is no substitute for effective leadership in Washington.

Pollution
Since first coming to Congress in 1997, Rep. Tom Allen has been in the forefront of the fight against power plants that flaunt clean air laws by spewing pollution that makes our air dirty and our children sick. He has supported legislation that would require all fossil fuel fired power plants to reduce national emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide (pollutants that contribute to smog and acid rain) by 75 percent by 2010.

Rep. Tom Allen is also working to reduce mercury pollution. Maine suffers from some of the worstmercury contamination in the country because it is downwind

Rep. Allen views new acquisitions at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in August 2006.

from major pollution sources. Since 1994, the Maine Bureau of Health has issued statewide advisories recommending that pregnant women, women of childbearing age, and young children limit their consumption of Maine fish. The advisories remain in place because mercury levels in fish, loons, and eagles have not decreased. In a State with approximately 26,000 people employed in the fishing industry and tens of thousands of recreational fishermen (including Rep. Allen), mercury contamination also poses a serious threat to Maine’s economy and culture.

Conservation
Preserving public lands by designating them as national parks or wilderness areas and increasing access to these areas for all Americans has long been a top priority for Rep. Tom Allen in Congress. He has consistently opposed Republican efforts to open roadless areas of National Forests to logging, mining, and oil exploration, especially in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. In addition, he has worked on a bi-partisan basis to protect funding for the Forest Legacy Program which provides grants to Maine and other states to purchase conservation easements that protect threatened land and preserve public access.

Rep. Tom Allen has also fought attempts in previous Congresses to weaken landmark environmental laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act, and the Clean Water Act. He opposes drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and has fought for increased funds for conservation, wetlands protection, and national parks.

Preservation of Maine’s Special Places
As a lifelong Mainer who appreciates Maine’s outdoor heritage and tradition of open access, Rep. Allen believes that we need to work on a local, state and federal level to protect our special places.

Rep. Allen with Mary Kimball in August 2006. Ms. Kimball donated 15 acres of land on Kittery Point to Rachel Carson
National Wildlife Refuge.

For several years, Rep. Allen has led a bipartisan effort in the U.S. House of Representatives to strengthen and preserve the Forest Legacy program. Forest Legacy provides funding to purchase land and conservation easements in ecologically sensitive areas. With Rep. Allen’s support, Forest Legacy funds have been used to preserve land along the West Branch of the Penobscot River, along that Machias River, on Tumbledown Mountain, in York and Cumberland counties, near Baxter State Park, and around Katahdin Iron Works.

Rep. Allen has also led a bipartisan effort for increased funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). These funds have been used for several years to allow the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in York County to acquire ecologically significant property from willing sellers.

Rep. Allen is a strong supporter of the nation’s existing national parks, including Maine’s Acadia National Park. He has secured funding for improvements to Acadia and other national parks around the country.

Legislation

H.R. 5820, the Traditional Use Protection Act

Congressman Allen held a press conference at the Eddington Salmon Club to announce that he had introduced H.R. 5820, the Traditional Use Protection Act.

Rep. Allen introduced H.R. 5820 to benefit Maine’s outdoor enthusiasts. More and more land in Maine, particularly in Southern Maine, is being posted. The Traditional Use Protection Act would give states like Maine a dedicated stream of funding to preserve critical land for access for traditional uses, such as hunting, fishing, ATV use, and snowmobiling.

The bill would provide $50 million per year for five years in grants to states to purchase land or easements for traditional uses. In order to access this funding, a state would have to develop a plan to use the grants through a public stakeholder process and have a fully functioning land owner relations program. No funds could be used to purchase land taken by eminent domain; land or easements could only be purchased from willing sellers.

Maine has had a long tradition of open access to private land for recreation. For the past twelve years, Rep. Allen has worked to protect land in Maine for traditional use, securing millions of dollars for the state to purchase land and easements so that future generations will be able enjoy Maine’s outdoors just like their parents and grandparents did.

Rep. Allen is a member of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, a life long sportsman and gun owner who values Maine’s traditions. He is concerned about the changing nature of Maine’s forests and fields. That is why he does not post his land, a SWOAM certified woodlot. Rep. Allen believes it is essential that we have access to land so we can pass on Maine’s outdoor heritage to the generations that follow.

Full Text of H.R. 5820, the Traditional Use Protection Act

H.R. 1590, the Safe Climate Act
Rep. Tom Allen is a strong advocate for tackling the enormous challenge of global climate change and with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has introduced the Safe Climate Act, the most aggressive climate change legislation in the Congress. The bill creates a cap and trade system, across all sectors of the economy, for the control and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. It freezes emissions in 2010 at the 2009 level, and then initiates a two percent annual reduction from 2011 to 2020. By 2020 emissions would be at 1990 levels. From 2021 through 2050, emissions would be reduced annually by 5 percent so that by 2050, emissions would be at 20 percent of the 1990 level.

Full Text of H.R. 1590, the Safe Climate Act

H.R. 1534, the Mercury Export Ban Act
Often, mercury is exported overseas by American chemical companies, where it contaminates local environments and poisons people. This mercury is sometimes burned, sending mercury into the atmosphere that falls back to earth in the United States. Rep. Allen introduced H.R. 1534 to combat a large source of mercury pollution worldwide: namely, the export of elemental mercury from the United States to developing countries. The bill has the support of a broad coalition of environmental and public health organizations in the U.S., including the American Medical Association, the American College of Preventive Medicine and the Nature Conservancy. Rep. Allen’s bill passed the House of Representatives on November 13, 2008 by voice vote.

Full Text of H.R. 1534, the Mercury Export Ban

Video of Rep. Allen speaking during Committee consideration of H.R. 1534

H.R. 1533, the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Program Establishment Act
Rep Allen also introduced H.R. 1533, the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Program Establishment Act. This bill would establish a comprehensive program to monitor mercury pollution. Regional mercury monitoring sites would identify and measure mercury “hotspots,” (areas of particularly elevated mercury pollution) which are often caused by coal fired power plants. People who live near these hotspots deserve to know if they are being exposed to deadly mercury pollution. This legislation was developed in conjunction with Maine scientists at the Biodiversity Research Institute in Gorham who recently published a study on mercury hotspots in the journal Bioscience.

Full Text of H.R. 1533, the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Program Establishment Act

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