Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from California is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. CALVERT. I rise in opposition to the amendment.

The North American Wetlands Conservation Fund is a good program. I have no objections to that program. It's just a bad offset that the gentleman is choosing to move ahead with.

Mr. Chairman, the $50 million that's included in the continuing resolution to support Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grants is a good program. Because heavy diesel engines can operate for 20 to 30 years after they enter service, many of these engines operating today were manufactured years before the modern clean air standards. DERA grants support projects to retrofit over 20 million aging diesel engines currently in use with modern technologies to reduce toxic emissions and improve air quality.

This successful environmental program is supported by a unique broad coalition of environmentalists, industry, State and local governments. This program enjoys strong bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate and was reauthorized in the lame duck session last Congress.

Since 2008, the EPA has awarded over 500 DERA grants for projects nationwide. These grants leverage two State and local dollars for every one Federal dollar invested and provide $13 of economic benefit for every dollar spent. These leveraged dollars buy us cleaner air and more green jobs in every State in our Nation.

Perhaps most importantly, recent studies indicate that black carbon, like that emitted from diesel engines, is the worst kind of pollution. The retrofit technology supported by DERA reduces black carbon emissions by 90 percent.

The EPA's third "National Assessment of Toxic Air Pollutants" found that 2.2 million Americans now live in areas where the air they breathe increases their risk of cancer to levels deemed grossly unacceptable, one in 10,000. Given these findings, we owe it to our constituents to continue to support clean air technology.

Mr. Chairman, DERA is a win-win program. It supports green American jobs and improves the air quality for all Americans.

I urge a "no" vote on the amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source