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Executive Summary
On April 22, 1970, America
celebrated its first Earth Day, demonstrating a national and truly bipartisan
outpouring of concern for cleaning up the environment. According to some recollections
of that day, "So many politicians were on the stump on Earth Day that Congress
was forced to close down. The oratory, one of the wire services observed, was
'as thick as smog at rush hour.'" 1 In the decade
that followed, Congress passed the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered
Species Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and other laws that form the cornerstone
of our country's commitment to protect the environment and public health.
While we have seen measurable
progress in environmental quality since 1970, we are far from achieving the
original vision laid out by the authors of these landmarks laws. Approximately
146 million Americans - or half of the population - live in areas where the
air is unhealthy to breathe. More than 40 percent of our nation's waterways
are too polluted for safe fishing or swimming. Logging, drilling, mining, road-building
and other development continue to take their toll on our forests, fragile coastlines
and last wild places.
In a country that takes
great pride in its entrepreneurial spirit, these problems should inspire our
leaders to look for immediate solutions. Instead, the Bush administration has
taken the opposite course-looking for opportunities to weaken, not strengthen,
our environmental laws and placate its allies in the oil, timber, electric utility,
mining and other polluting industries.
Over the last three years,
the Bush administration has proposed numerous policies to allow more pollution
in our air and water, more logging in our national forests, and more drilling
on sensitive public lands, while ignoring the pressing need to address global
warming pollution, rapidly clean up toxic waste sites, and reduce our dependence
on foreign oil. Although many of these proposals have been finalized, several
remain pending-offering the administration another chance to reinforce, rather
than undermine, the foundation of America's environmental laws.
These national policies
have a profound effect on residents of Wisconsin.
Air pollution
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized two rules that eliminate
the teeth of the Clean Air Act's New Source Review program and the primary means
to cut soot and smog pollution from the nation's dirtiest power plants. In December
2003, EPA also proposed a new plan to weaken and delay efforts to clean up mercury
emissions from the nation's 1,100 coal-fired power plants; this proposal is
still pending. These policies will only exacerbate Wisconsin's air quality problems.
In 2002, Wisconsin's residents breathed unhealthy air on 22 days; currently,
all of Wisconsin's waterways are under a fish consumption advisory for mercury
pollution.
On a different note, in
April 2004 EPA plans to finalize a promising proposal to clean up dirty diesel
construction, farm, and industrial equipment. The rule would reduce pollution
from these engines by more than 90 percent, preventing an estimated 3,930 asthma
attacks and 185 premature deaths each year in Wisconsin.
Global warming
EPA has taken no meaningful action to address global warming emissions from
the nation's power plants, disavowing its authority to regulate carbon dioxide
as a pollutant in August 2003. The agency has supported only voluntary measures
to slow the rate of increase in carbon dioxide emissions. Global warming could
have profound effects on Wisconsin's environment and public health, including
more frequent heat waves and extreme weather events. In 2002, Wisconsin recorded
$541 million in losses due to weather-related disasters.
Water pollution
The Bush administration has proposed or enacted several policies to allow more
pollution to enter our waterways. In January 2003, EPA signaled its intention
to remove Clean Water Act protections for so-called "isolated" waterways;
EPA rescinded this proposed rule in December 2003, but has yet to recall a guidance
issued to EPA and Army Corps staff directing them to immediately stop protecting
these waters. The administration also has weakened enforcement of the Clean
Water Act; drafted plans to allow states to delay cleaning up polluted waters;
and proposed new rules to allow inadequately treated sewage to enter our waterways.
Already, 552 waterways in Wisconsin are listed as too impaired for safe fishing
or swimming.
Logging in national forests
Under the guise of fighting forest fires, the Bush administration signed
its so-called Healthy Forests Initiative into law in December 2003. This new
law makes it easier for the timber industry to cut down large, fire resistant
trees while doing little to protect at-risk communities. The Forest Service
also has announced plans to weaken the popular Roadless Area Conservation Rule
by allowing governors to opt out of the rule altogether. Wisconsin is home to
69,000 acres of roadless forest areas that would be protected under the rule.
Wisconsin's coasts
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is quietly rewriting
the federal rules that grant states the authority to protect their coastlines
from harmful federal activities. In July 2003, NOAA proposed changes to the
Coastal Zone Management Act that would weaken the voice of state agencies in
determining the environmental impacts of offshore federal activities and give
greater weight to the opinions of federal agencies. These changes could undercut
the right of Wisconsin to protect its 820 miles of valuable coastline from harmful
activities, including oil and gas development.
Dependence on foreign
oil
In December 2003, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
proposed changes to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard that could make
it easier for auto companies to qualify gas-guzzling SUVs and other light trucks
for weaker fuel economy standards. The best way to cut our dependence on oil
is to make vehicles go farther on a gallon of gas. In Wisconsin, raising fuel
economy standards to 40 miles per gallon would save consumers up to $1.7 billion
annually at the gas pump and conserve almost 956 million gallons of oil by 2020.
Toxic waste cleanups
Superfund is the nation's preeminent law for making polluters clean up the country's
most contaminated toxic waste sites, such as the 39 sites on the National Priority
List in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, EPA has failed to reinstate the "polluter
pays" fees that help fund cleanup of abandoned sites, slowed the pace of
cleanups, and forced taxpayers to pick up more of the bill for the cleanups
that are happening. Taxpayers in Wisconsin paid about $5 million to clean up
abandoned toxic waste sites in 1995, the year the polluter pays fees expired;
in 2004, taxpayers will pay approximately $21 million, an increase of 315 percent.
Exempting the Department
of Defense
The Department of Defense (DoD) is one of the most prolific polluters in the
United States. The Pentagon, capitalizing on increased public sympathy for the
military and desire for homeland security, has requested blanket exemptions
from several environmental laws. Having already won exemption from the Endangered
Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, the DoD now wants amnesty from
cornerstone laws designed to protect people living on and near military sites
from exposure to toxic waste and air pollution.
Each state in the Union
will share the burden of the Bush administration's policies to weaken environmental
protections; this report, by no means exhaustive, details some of the administration's
harmful proposals and reveals how communities in Wisconsin will experience the
very real, very local effects of these actions.
Notes
1 John C. Whitaker, "Earth
Day Recollections: What It Was Like When The Movement Took Off." EPA Journal.
July/August 1988.
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