Clean Air Act

Floor Speech

Mr. TONKO. This evening, Mr. Speaker, we will be joined by a number of colleagues in the House to discuss the Clean Air Act and its impact on jobs, on public health, and our national security. It is interesting to note that we've had an outstanding 40-year record on behalf of the improvements that have come via the Clean Air Act, and now there are forces amongst us that would like to repeal important pollution control standards that are part of that Clean Air Act and roll backward the very progress that we have enjoyed, the impact that it has made. And they're being joined now, these forces, by big polluters, people who would choose to have us go backward and undo the tremendous standards that have brought about and enhanced quality of life.

Since 1970, the Clean Air Act has saved hundreds of thousands of lives and decreased air pollution by some 60 percent, at the same time having grown our economy by some 200 percent. So it is very important to note that there has been a high order of progress associated with the Clean Air Act, which came, by the way, through bipartisan vision that thought we could improve our situation here in America, and those visionaries were absolutely correct.

We now are at risk of endangering our children's health simply by attacking the health standards that the Clean Air Act promotes. We're also at risk of promoting ideas that will denounce innovation--innovation that has moved forward in breaking our gluttonous dependency on oil, oftentimes imported from unfriendly nations to the United States, and where also we will roll back the progress that has come with creating our own sense of innovation as we have responded to these cleanup measures here in the States. This is an important juncture. After a 40-year record, 40 years of success, we're now faced with the forces of big polluters hooking up with our colleagues in the majority in this House looking to roll back progress and denounce policies that have impacted us favorably.

We're joined this evening by a number of colleagues. We're joined by Representative Quigley from the Fifth District of Illinois, who has thoughts that he wants to share with us. We'll be hearing from a number of colleagues from Virginia and Washington State as the hour continues to roll.

Representative Quigley, thank you for joining us this evening on this very important topic and on this very important effort to hold back any efforts made to undo the law and weaken it and put our health standards at risk.

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Quigley, for presenting your perspective on this important discussion.

I think it's important to note when we talk about the statistics, when we talk about an attack on public health standards, which this is, it's done to enhance the opportunities--for lobbyists, for special interests, for deep pockets of the oil industry, where they want to avoid that sense of accountability and where they want to build their profit column at the expense of the health outcomes that we have generated to the good over the last 40 years. In fact, in 2010 alone, the stat is that some 160,000 lives plus were saved by this legislation, by this law that was produced 40 years ago. And when it comes to children, some 18 million cases over the last 20 years of children's bronchial or respiratory illnesses were prevented. So right there the proof is in the pudding. This is an attack on our public health, and I think it's important to state it for the record so that when these forces of negativity come into play, they're checked for their wanting to roll us backward.

I thank you for joining us this evening, Representative Quigley.

We are joined by Representative Gerry Connolly from the 11th District in Virginia. It is always good to hear from you, also, Gerry.

It is important, I think, that everyone share their perspective here this evening of what damage can be calculated here after 40 years of progress and where there is an attack on our health care standards and on job creation. Because, as we all know, innovation to respond to the efforts of this law, the intent purpose, produces jobs and produces a technical response that is unique and provides for America to dig deep into solutions.

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Connolly. We will continue to banter here this evening about the merits of the Clean Air Act and the good that it has produced. But when we talk about some of this innovation, how we can drive our energy independence, our self-sufficiency, it goes well beyond the public health efforts that can be secured simply by that kind of work as we reduce the amount of emissions, but it also turns into an issue of national security, where we know sending these over $400 billion a year to foreign sources for our oil importation is actually feeding the treasuries of some very unfriendly nations to the U.S., and then perhaps having those dollars used to train the troops that are fighting our troops in our efforts for peace in the Mideast. It is a never ending cycle of madness that has to be prevented, and I think the Clean Air Act, accompanied by other efforts that we can do to spur jobs and create an innovation economy are very important aspects. They are outcomes of sound progressive legislation that then achieves wonderful results and allows us to address public health standards in a way that is magnanimous.

Mr. TONKO. Right. And produced great benefits for every dollar invested. You, Representative Connolly, and I serve on SEEC, which is a wonderful group of legislators, like-minded in producing a green agenda that reaches to a sustainable energy and environmental outcome. That SEEC coalition is what is driving that agenda here in the House. One of our cochairs is with us this evening, the gentleman from Washington State's First District, Jay Inslee. Representative Jay Inslee is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and is ranker on a subcommittee, I believe, that will have a very important hearing.

Mr. TONKO. Representative Inslee, you talk about the jobs effect. Obviously, there are those who would suggest that this kills jobs when, in fact, we have data from 2007 that shows the air pollution control equipment industry was generating some $18.3 billion with $3 billion of that in terms of exporting that is done.

So this spurs innovation. It puts into working order the science and tech community that creates sustainable-type jobs that really make an impact on our quality of life and on our public health standards. I think those facts are missing here when those forces of lobbyists, deep pocket sorts, and oil voices join with our partners on the other side of the aisle to kill this legislation.

Mr. TONKO. You know, I think, too, it taps into the pioneer spirit of America--the ingenuity, the creative genius that has always guided us, that is nurtured simply by our open system of government and capitalist style of opportunity. We have been able to go forward with so many advances. In this case, as we address

health-threatening, life-threatening situations because of toxic poisoning, it produces jobs that are of a very sustainable quality and that are really tapping into the cerebral power of this country. I don't know why anyone would want to disrupt that progress as there is no higher priority than jobs, jobs, jobs in our society today.

At the same time, if we can create stronger public health standards--as you said, address women of senior age varieties and children of all types and working middle-aged couples around this country--everyone in every age demographic will be protected and helped by the Clean Air Act. There is 40 years of documented success that ought to guide us here and tell us this is a move in the wrong direction.

We are so happy that so many people are offering their thoughts here this evening in this Special Order, in this 1-hour's worth of info exchange. We are joined by a great Representative from New Jersey, who is, again, a very thoughtful scientist of types--a physicist, I believe--from New Jersey's 12th Congressional District, Representative Rush Holt.

Thank you so much, Representative Holt, for joining us this evening.

Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. And you know, I think that our goal, gentlemen, should be to strengthen the public health standards. When we think of the reduced amount of impacts on children, for instance, those 18 million cases that were prevented of respiratory diseases for children, those are important steps. That ought to drive us.

But you know, Representative Holt talked about the cost of the program and the associated benefits. Well, right now the average has been for every dollar of investment there is a $13 benefit. That's a tremendous, powerful outcome. Why would we not want to continue that sort of benefit that befalls the American public and produces jobs at the same time? This whole session of Congress that preceded this 112th and now this Congress, this session of Congress to date is all about jobs, and why would we walk away from the jobs potential and the public health improvements for the sake of politics? And by the way, those benefits are projected by the year 2020 to rise to $20 trillion, which is a 30:1 ratio. For every dollar invested, $30 of benefits will be produced. This is an awesome track record, and one that really, again, speaks to the well-being, the general health of the American public and produces jobs.

By the way, the American manufacturing teams that work on air pollution reduction technology are the kingpins in that global market. They are producing and exporting. Now, everywhere we go we're looking for American industry to be bolstered, for manufacturing to come back. We in this House have adopted the mantra, Make it in America, Make it in America again. Here we are, we're achieving and exporting, exporting, which is the goal here, so that we can bulk up the American economy, and getting good results from it.

Mr. TONKO. There's a point that comes to mind, Representative Holt, when you talk about building it here and developing the technology and having that think-tank quality in this country. That also has to be nurtured by the next generation of workers. We have to pull from the students in the classroom today their experience or their awareness of science, technology, engineering, and math. We must enable them to explore those areas as a career path.

What sort of message are we offering out there? What is the message that resonates from this sort of approach? If I'm a youngster in a classroom, I'm thinking science and technology has no value in our society. We're able to clean up, but we don't want to clean up. We're able to produce jobs through air pollution reduction technology that requires some sort of research and development concept--we don't care about that.

We're sending a message to young people that these careers don't matter, and oh, by the way, your health doesn't matter because all of those young people, say from asthma or say from some sort of respiratory ailment, just don't matter. That is a terrible statement to offer our young people, I would think. And Representative Inslee, you have something to say?

Mr. TONKO. Just following on the heels of the President saying right from the podium, right in the State of the Union, it's time to celebrate the science bowl as much as we celebrate the Super Bowl. Here he is trying to draw the innovation economy into the classroom to give students a sense of vision, partake in a creative venture out there that will make the world better, and now we're rolling back technology. What a terrible message to leave our young people.

Mr. TONKO. And people have asked, they said, Well, what are these emissions? What are these particulates that may be harmful to us or our children? And when you start talking, Representative Inslee, about mercury poisoning, when you start talking about carbon emission, when there is the talk about arsenic and lead poisoning, people begin to see it as something very real, something they've heard of, that they know people have been impacted by. So of course people want to protect their children. They are our most sacred commodity. They are a precious commodity. And with so much track record here, 40 years of success, of strong public health standards, it's very difficult to imagine that someone wants to take that backward.

I think of the innovation that I saw when I served as the leader of NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which was my last workstation before entering the House. I saw what R&D and basic research, research and development can mean in the new shelf opportunities that come our way that are science and tech associated. You know, people said when you went to the catalytic converter for automobiles, it was going to kill the auto industry, and we're going to have no jobs here. It didn't happen. People understood that this catalytic converter can now clean us of that pollution, that emission.

You know, we were told of all sorts of things that would happen when we were addressing the emissions in some smokestacks. People came about and found ways to make it happen. The industries many times are painted--many out there that are part of this concern--have really come forward and said, This is a reasonable approach. Many have said that. They want predictability. They want some sort of plan, and they'll engage their operation into that plan and its outcome. There are many groups, like Entergy, Constellation Energy, NextEra Energy, National Grid, PSE&G, and one in my home base, the New York State Power Authority, all of whom have said that this is a reasonable approach, that they are willing to be those partners out there to make the world, the environment, the air that we breathe a better quality.

So the proof is in the pudding here. There is an outstanding 40-year track record. There are children who breathe freely, and there are lives that have been saved. Just 160,000, if that matters, last year alone. But people need to look at the facts here and not be so connected to those deep pockets, special interests,

friends from the oil industry that want to come here and partner with colleagues in the House and say, We're going to undo this, and we're going to kill jobs. Job-killing, life-threatening, health-threatening, toxic poisoning that can take place if we allow it to. And we will stop this, I'm convinced.

Mr. TONKO. Well, I can't help but think too of the Citizens United case, where special interests now are able to open the corporate checkbook and just write sizable checks. The sky is the limit, according to the Supreme Court decision. And that can bring about special interest flavor into campaigns that are waged and into candidates that are produced into the House. And when we look at special interests like that, we then begin to see what the real agenda is, and it's counterproductive. It is kicking back progress that has been achieved for 40 years, celebrations of life that were allowed to breathe freely because of this legislation. And the introduction of innovation and technology.

So these deep-rooted power plays are perhaps going to be more prevalent as we go forward in time, and I think that it's setting a dangerous precedent. I think that what we have here is an opportunity to say "yes'' to sound public health standards, "yes'' to job creation, "yes'' to innovation. I know that from the work that's being done--even in the auto industry, GE is putting together an advanced battery manufacturing facility that will be available for heavy fleets. We have those who are working on all sorts of alternative fuels. We are looking at renewables to cut the kind of pollution that has been allowed to continue because of our gluttonous dependency on oil imported from unfriendly nations to the U.S. And 60 percent of that demand is met simply by those oil imports. So there is an awful lot of progressive perspective that is associated with what the Clean Air Act has achieved. We have to go forward with this one.

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Inslee.

You know, the efforts made here tonight were to inform people as to the impact that could be felt if we rolled back the progress of the Clean Air Act, one that has had this 40-year record of achievement, one that has given a big boost to innovation in our economy. Our President, this President, President Obama, has indicated that this is the sort of sustainable restructuring of our economy that can drive us forward.

If we invest in the intellect of this great American society, if we encourage education and higher education to be pronounced in the lives of individuals, if we can pull from them their interests in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, we can then have this hopeful opportunity of job creation that comes simply through ideas, ideas that are produced perhaps in that education experience that we can provide for our young people and by public policy that drives initiatives, that drives a series of goals to in this case clean the air quality that has enabled us to go forward with the soundness in the manufacturing sector that has retrofitted, has modernized, has adjusted, retooled that industry, those industries in the manufacturing realm to respond in a way that is much more sensitive to public health standards. This is the sort of progress that we can achieve in this country simply by moving forward with soundness of policy.

And so, I thank all of our colleagues this evening who have joined us in the efforts to speak to the soundness of clean air, what it means not only in public health standards but certainly in the efforts to create jobs and to sustain the economy in a way that will continue to strive to build on the progress that we have achieved over these last four decades, and continue to explore new eras of job creation that will provide the soundness in our economy that will be the strength of this country in many, many decades and generations to come.

Mr. TONKO. Well, Representative Faleomavaega, thank you for joining us this evening.

But during the course of this hour we have all talked about innovation that we see happening right in our very own districts. I have a global center on renewables that is conducted through the auspices of GE. We talked about their advanced battery manufacturing facility. I talked about the nanoscience that has been promoted in the 21st Congressional District of New York. We witness every day the semiconductor work that is done and work in the biotech and infotech and nanotech communities, all of which are critically important to providing the workforce of the future and the workplace of the future. This is what I think policy like this can initiate.

And I'm certain within the realm of your own district or in the region that you represent or the State that you call home, within that whole context there are those stories of success and innovation. And that, I think, is the outcome here that we want to preserve, and not only preserve but enhance, so that we can continue to grow those jobs and provide a better quality of life for the people that we represent.

Mr. TONKO. Built on 40 years of success then, we want to defend people of all ages from the most young to the most senior in our society. They have experienced and lived the benefits of soundness of policy that came via the Clean Air Act, a bipartisan effort that was initiated by a Republican President. And so it defies logic to move forward with a plan that will take us backward. So we have to thwart that effort and call it for what it is, check it at the door and say, Look, it is a life-threatening, health-threatening, toxic-poisoning situation that would reduce jobs, denounce innovation in our society, in our economy, and really take us backward.

I think this House ought to be about moving us forward, creating jobs, enhancing the public health standards and embracing the quality of innovation in our society that really builds the magic in our economy, that digs deep into the pioneer spirit that is uniquely American. And we can make it happen simply by saying "no'' to those agents that want to roll back progress and defeat us with their dirty air act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back and thank you for the opportunity for all of us to express our concerns about those who are advancing a dirty air act.

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