Resolution of Disapproval of EPA Rule--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I am pleased to be here to join my colleagues and Senator Boxer--and I thank her for her leadership in this effort--to keep from turning back the clock on our air quality. We desperately need to reform our country's energy policies.

Our reliance on fossil fuels means polluting our air, it results in an enormous transfer of wealth to other countries--$1 billion a day--and it compromises our national security. We are currently sending $150 billion a year to countries that the State Department deems dangerous and unsafe.

There are tremendous costs domestically associated with this reliance on fossil fuels. We saw it in 1989 with the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, and we are seeing it now as the largest environmental disaster in our country's history plays out before our very eyes in the gulf--the loss of life and the tragedy to the environment. The way of life that so many people in the gulf have enjoyed for generations is unfortunately, we think, going to be gone. We pay a very heavy price for our dependence on fossil fuels. Now is the time to work together to get America running on clean energy.

Reforming our Nation's energy policies will help us take control of our future in America, a future that will be built on clean energy and American power.

To those who say we should not be reducing carbon pollution, I simply disagree. We have heard the same tired stories from big oil and big polluters again and again. They tell us reducing carbon pollution will kill jobs and wreck our economy. Time and time again, we have heard these same arguments, and we know they are not true.

Since we passed the Clean Air Act in 1970, we have dramatically reduced emissions of dozens of pollutants, we have improved air quality, and we have improved public health. The EPA estimates that this year, the Clean Air Act prevented an estimated 20,000 deaths, more than 23,000 cases of chronic bronchitis and asthma, and 59,000 hospitalizations.

Yet during this same period, despite the current recession that has set us back, with the Clean Air Act, we have been able to grow our economy. Our gross domestic product has more than tripled, and average household income grew more than 45 percent.

We know we can protect the public health, save our environment, and grow our economy.

The resolution we are debating today will unravel the only ability we have right now to address carbon pollution. For those who say Congress should make a decision about how to address carbon, they are absolutely right. But instead of debating efforts to protect big polluters, we should be using this time to debate how to position our country to lead in the global clean energy economy.

I have no doubt that the American people have the ingenuity and the competitive spirit to solve our energy challenges. What they need is some leadership from us in Washington. Now is the time to get America running on clean energy.

I urge my colleagues to reject this resolution and for all of us to work together to craft energy policies that will help us transition to a clean energy economy that will stop carbon pollution and our reliance on fossil fuels.

I yield the floor.

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