Mike Dukakis on the Environment

Michael Dukakis

Mr. Dukakis is the governor of Massachusetts, and will be the Democratic candidate for president in the November 1988 election.

[18 ELR 10296]

Abundant natural resources and the splendor and varied beauty of our land are America's great heritage. But today's polluted rivers, lakes, and harbors, dirty air, and toxic and hazardous waste contamination threaten to destroy that heritage. They are painful and expensive reminders of past failures to protect our environment.

Some say we can have either a clean environment or a thriving economy, but not both. But I see our challenge very differently. We can't have sustainable economic development without careful and sensitive protection of our natural resources. And we won't have the resources to make badly needed investments in our environment unless we create a strong, vibrant economy.

We must now, at last, begin to use our economic strength in harmony with the environment to restore and protect our natural resources for generations to come.

For seven years, the current administration has undermined our national environmental commitment to long-term conservation. Instead we've seen short-term exploitation. The appointments of James Watt, Anne Gorsuch, and Rita Lavelle; the budget slashing at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); bargain-basement sales of natural resources; and the weak enforcement of our environmental protection laws all demonstrate that the present administration simply doesn't care about the environment.

We must do better and we can do better.

A Dukakis administration will reverse the short-sighted and environmentally destructive management of our land, air, and water. It will set an example of environmentally sensitive and cost-effective stewardship for states, communities, and private industry to follow. My appointments to the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture and EPA will share my commitment to responsible and effective environmental management and conservation.

Toxics, Pollution, and Public Health: It Is Time to Act

The pollution of our air, water, and land by toxic discharges continues at an alarming and unacceptable rate. Over 250 million tons of hazardous waste are generated annually. Americans everywhere are being exposed to toxic pollutants that threaten our health, imperil our ecosystems, and impose huge costs on society. Acid rain, contaminated drinking water, and ground level air pollution levels that exceed federal standards in over 60 cities nationwide are the signs of the failed environmental policies of the present administration.

As governor, I have helped lead the fight against acid rain, including passage of legislation requiring Massachusetts to reduce emissions in the absence of federal acid rain legislation. Massachusetts has enacted one of the most effective state superfund laws in the nation, forcing polluters to pay for over 80 percent of all cleanup costs to date. Since 1983, we have tripled both the budget and the manpower of the state hazardous waste program. We have promoted source reduction and recycling as the critical first steps in attacking the solid waste problem, and we are committed to recycling one-third of the material in the state's waste stream.

As president, I will:

* Establish and enforce strict environmental standards for air and water quality and ensure that an adequately funded EPA vigorously enforces our environmental laws and makes the polluters pay.

* Work with the Congress and through EPA to stop the acid rain pollution of North American skies and waters. I will establish national standards to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide — the two major components of acid rain.

Acid rain is a national problem that we must work together as a nation to correct. Any truly responsible national acid rain control program must consider and mitigate negative economic impacts through cost-sharing mechanisms, while at the same time promoting environmental benefits. I look forward to the challenge of bringing all sides together and working to find a solution that is acceptable to all parties.

Even under existing Clean Air Act regulations, proper regulation of tall stacks by EPA could already have cut sulfur dioxide emissions by nearly five million tons per year.

* Require safe disposal of hazardous, solid, and radioactive wastes; ensure prompt cleanup of existing waste sites, and reduce the generation of additional hazardous chemicals.

* Establish and promote the use of certified public toxics auditors (CPTAs). CPTAs will perform a similar role for environmental protection to that of certified public accountants in financial regulation: they will assist their clients in complying with the environmental laws and assure the public that our health, safety, and the environment are being adequately protected. I will encourage business to use CPTAs, possibly by establishing a limited amnesty for past penalty liability for firms that have environmental audits performed, get into compliance with environmental laws, and stay in compliance.

* Work with Congress to establish a new National Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act (NTCPA). The NTCPA will be designed to prevent accidents such as those at Bhopal, India, and Institute, West Virginia, by requiring firms handling especially dangerous materials to improve their internal risk management and accident prevention programs. And I will improve the capacity of EPA and other agencies to respond to crises, such as the recent oil spill that threatened drinking water in communities near Pittsburgh.

* Initiate high-level talks with insurance companies seeking to restore the market for liability insurance covering environmental harms. Businesses, accident victims, and the environment will all benefit from the greater availability of insurance.

* Encourage source reduction and recycling on a national [18 ELR 10297] level and assist states and regions to establish stable national markets for recycled material.

* Fully implement and strictly enforce the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. These actions, combined with a source reduction program, will provide the economic incentive for industry to redesign production processes and products to reduce dramatically the use and production of toxics.

Protecting America's Land

The sad legacy of the current administration's failed environmental policy is no more visible than on the scarred face of our land: devastated old growth forests; destroyed wetlands and wildlife preserves; a headlong rush of commercial exploitation of our national parks, forests, and wilderness areas; and eroded hills and fields and once-fertile agricultural land now wasted.

National Parks, Forests, and Wildlife Refuges

We must manage federally owned lands in the long-term public interest. This means protecting national forests and grazing lands from excessive grazing and cutting. It means conserving wilderness areas, old growth forests, and fragile wildlife habitats. And it means managing national parks in the interest of the people, not the private concessionaires.

As governor of Massachusetts, I launched the largest open space acquisition program in the history of Massachusetts, including the nationally renowned Urban Heritage Parks program. Massachusetts, the sixth smallest state in area, now has one of the largest state park systems in the nation.

As president, I will:

* Work with Congress to designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a Wilderness Area.

* Implement the central recommendations of the President's Commission on Americans Outdoors.

* Act aggressively to preserve endangered species.

The current administration has tried to turn the national forests, public lands, into opportunities for private profit. As president, I will end this giveaway. I will:

* Halt below-cost timber sales in national forests.

* Direct the Forest Service to take immediate measures to protect old growth forests.

Coastal Areas

I will continue to oppose offshore drilling in critical environmental areas and productive fishing grounds, as I did for Georges Bank off the New England coast.

I strongly support state Coastal Zone Management programs and expansion of the Coastal Barrier Resources System. We must protect coastal barriers through a strengthened federal flood insurance program. We must expedite cleanup of our estuaries and harbors through EPA's bay and estuary program. I will also fight ocean pollution by vigorously prosecuting polluters.

Wetlands

We must not only protect existing wetlands, but restore part of the vast endowment of wetlands that America has lost. I support strong enforcement of the wetlands protection provisions of the Clean Water Act, the cornerstone of an effective national policy on wetlands management.

Agricultural Land

Preserving our nation's farmlands is not only an environmental issue but an economic issue. In Massachusetts, we've invested in one of the most aggressive farmland protection programs in the nation. Congress has made progress towards conserving America's farmland and reducing soil erosion and wetlands filling by passing the Sodbuster, Swampbuster, and Conservation Reserve provisions of the 1985 Farm Bill. I strongly support these programs.

A good producer is a steward of the landwho maintains its productivity and cares for our soil and water resources. Because family farmers and ranchers live on the land, we can best preserve this natural wealth for future generations by guaranteeing that they continue to be the mainstay of our agricultural system.

Energy

Today America has no energy policy. We can continue this way only at great peril.

We need a national energy policy that protects our environment, promotes our national security, and contributes to the economic growth and opportunity of every region of our country. We must decrease our vulnerability to interruptions in the supply of Persian Gulf and other foreign oil. We must use cleaner fuels, like natural gas, and better technologies, like clean coal. And we must promote alternatives to fossil fuels and significantly increase energy efficiency and conservation.

As governor of Massachusetts, I initiated pilot programs for conservation that have created jobs while saving the state energy and money. I initiated a successful statewide zero-interest loan program for homeowners to encourage insulation and weatherproofing. Working with our legislature, we passed a statewide Appliance Efficiency Act while the president vetoed similar federal legislation. My administration created a Center for Excellence in Photovoltaics to promote research, development, and marketing for this new solar energy technology.

My national energy program will include:

* Energy efficiency and conservation: they are the most cost-effective and easiest-to-implement ways to enhance our energy security.

* Vigorous support for alternative and renewable technologies, including ethanol, solar, wind, and small hydroelectric plants.

* Increased emphasis on natural gas, "clean coal," methanol, geothermal, and other cleaner resources of which we have sizable domestic supplies.

Nuclear Power

Once advertised as a source of electricity that would be "too cheap to meter," nuclear power has instead proven to be the most expensive way ever invented to boil water.

As president, I will appoint Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners whose first priority will be to protect citizens, [18 ELR 10298] not the nuclear power industry. I will ensure that the nuclear waste disposal site selection process is carried out responsibly and intelligently. And until safe methods of waste treatment and disposal are devised, until sufficient waste facilities are sited and approved, and until a new generation of reactor design and safety control is developed, I will oppose the construction of new commercial reactors.

International Environmental Issues

Environmental problems do not respect national boundaries. Acid rain, global warming from the greenhouse effect, stratospheric ozone depletion, the destruction of tropical rain forests, and the pollution of the oceans are problems that require cooperative, international solutions. The president of the United States, using the power of his office, must bring together leaders from around the world to address and solve these problems.

As president I will immediately call for an international environmental and conservation summit to bring together world leaders to confront these urgent problems.

I support the recommendations of the World Commission on Environment and Development. We must help developing countries avoid environmentally destructive economic development practices that may provide short-term benefits but are not sustainable over time.

I would immediately rescind the current administration's misguided Mexico City Policy, which forbids private organizations receiving Agency for International Development funding from providing a full range of family planning services to families who need them. Uncontrolled population growth in developing countries contributes to desertification, deforestation, climatic disruption, and the destruction of plant and animal habitat. America should help solve, not exacerbate, these problems.

Restore Environmental Leadership

The first step toward meaningful environmental protection is presidential leadership. Leadership means that the tone must be set from the top — that the president not only expects but demands vigorous and visible enforcement of our environmental laws.

Leadership means hiring experienced, practical, and honest public servants to manage federal environmental policy — starting with the appointment of a tough and effective EPA administrator.

Leadership means working in partnership with local and regional governments, private industry, and our educational institutions to promote meaningful progress in environmental protection.

Leadership also means being willing to commit resources to make a difference on environmental issues. I have demonstrated this willingness in Massachusetts and will continue to do so as president. However, the current administration will leave the next president both a huge budget deficit and an EPA whose purchasing power has been cut, in real dollar terms, to a level equal to that at the end of the Ford Administration, before the nation passed many of our laws to protect against toxic pollutants.

As president, I will find the resources within current federal budget levels to:

* Institute a program of Competitive Environmental Protection Demonstration Grants to state governments that propose more efficient and effective means of improving environmental quality.

* Establish a pilot program of voluntary, subsidized surveys of homes for household environmental risks such as radon, pesticide residues, carbon monoxides, and toxic chemicals.

Investing in the environment doesn't impose costs on the American people, it saves us all money. It saves us health care costs, it saves us future cleanup costs, and it saves us the hundreds of millions of dollars the federal government has been spending every year on environmentally unsound subsidies to a variety of industries.

By investing in the environment, we enhance the quality of life for millions of Americans, provide recreational opportunity, protect water supplies and air quality, and uphold our responsibility to future generations to preserve for them the magnificent heritage of America's beauty.

A quarter century ago, John Kennedy said, "It is our task, in our time and in our generation, to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours." We must fulfill that vision. And we can.