OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOSEPH LIEBERMAN
CONFIRMATION HEARING FOR CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN
ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE
JANUARY 17, 2001

Thank you Governor Whitman for appearing before the committee today. We now find ourselves in an unsettled and unsettling atmosphere regarding the environment one that is filled with apprehension about whether we will maintain our environmental protections and continue to make real progress towards lasting and effective environmental regulation or whether we will roll back the significant achievements realized in recent years. I hope your testimony will establish that you seek to take us forward, and not backward, when it comes to safeguarding the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the lands we cherish. One area about which I am particularly concerned is the troubling suggestion that the new administration will undo a number of environmental initiatives that have been finalized in the past few months by the Clinton Administration. These are critically needed protections that have been carefully debated and considered for years. For example, the new regulations limiting sulfur content in diesel fuel and emissions from diesel engines were initiated years ago before they were promulgated in December. These regulations will reduce smog-causing emissions from trucks and buses by 95 percent and soot emissions by 90 percent beyond current levels. As the governor of a Northeastern state that struggles to meet its air pollution goals, and incidentally a state that supported the rulemaking, I know you are aware of the great need to control these emissions. I hope that your testimony will reassure us that you will not abandon, but rather will vigorously enforce, this standard, which will help improve the health and safety of millions of Americans.

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.