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2000 Scorecard
Watchlist
The League of
Conservation Voters (LCV) is the nonpartisan political voice
for more than nine million members of environmental and
conservation organizations. Each year LCV publishes the
National Environmental Scorecard, which represents the
consensus of experts from more than two-dozen respected
environmental organizations on the year's key environmental
votes. This document highlights LCV's positions on legislative
proposals that may receive congressional action this year.
This list is not meant to be all encompassing, as LCV reserves
the right to include any significant congressional activity in
the 2000 Scorecard.
Anti-Environment Riders
Attacks upon the environment in the first session of
the 106th Congress mostly took the form of riders placed on
must-pass funding bills. LCV is committed to opposing these
backdoor attempts to gut environmental laws, hamper protection
of our public lands and natural resources, and place obstacles
in the way of making regulations that protect public health
and the environment. LCV will oppose all anti-environment
riders, including those regarding the issues highlighted later
in this document.
Regulatory Reform
Recently, Congress considered several pieces of
legislation under the guise of "regulatory reform," purported
to shine light upon the costs and benefits of overly
burdensome regulations. The House passed three such measures
in 1999 over the opposition of the environmental community.
The Mandates Information Act (H.R. 350) would place
new procedural restrictions on congressional consideration of
legislation imposing unfunded mandates on businesses. The bill
would allow members of Congress to use new procedural hurdles
to prevent a real vote on new health and safety protections.
Environmental regulations are established to internalize the
costs of environmental impacts upon polluters. This bill
assumes that an individuals' right to pollute is more
important than the public's right to clean air or clean water.
The Small Business Paperwork Reduction Act (H.R. 391)
that passed the House last year would waive penalties against
businesses for first time violations of federal paperwork
requirements, even if the violations were intentional.
However, the legislation would apply to more than truly small
businesses and would undermine enforcement of health,
environment and consumer protection laws. Furthermore, this
legislation is unnecessary as regulatory agencies already have
enforcement flexibility and can waive penalties at their
discretion.
The Regulatory Right to Know Act (H.R.
1074) purports to set up a mechanism to provide public
information on the costs and benefits of regulations. In fact,
it establishes an onerous process that diverts scarce agency
resources and fails to provide useful information on the true
costs and benefits of regulations. The environmental community
will continue to oppose these and other "regulatory reform"
measures that threaten the promulgation and implementation of
environmental and public health protections.
The
environmental community opposes broad "takings" legislation
such as H.R. 2372 and S. 1028, which would weaken local
environmental laws and land use decisions by threatening
communities with premature, expensive federal litigation. LCV
also objects to a provision added in committee to the Coastal
Zone Management Act that would require state and federal
governments to compensate every landowner, as well as land and
property users, for any restrictions applied to the use of
non-federal property for public purposes.
Clean
Air
The combustion of fossil fuels by
electrical utilities and automobiles emits pollutants that
directly pose risks to human health and the environment.
Current efforts to deregulate the electric industry and
improve automobile emission standards could significantly
impact air quality across the nation. For this reason,
electricity deregulation legislation must provide protections
for air quality, including incentives for renewable energy
development and continued investment in energy efficiency and
low-income energy services. Furthermore, legislation must
require all power plants to meet the same air pollution
standards. LCV will oppose any efforts to exempt existing
power plants from compliance with the Clean Air Act.
The Clinton administration has proposed to tighten
automobile emissions standards for noxious pollutants, as well
as to reduce the sulfur content of gasoline. Such policies
would have multiple benefits, including the reduction of
harmful ground level ozone, regional haze, greenhouse gas
emissions and acid rain. The environmental community will
oppose any effort to delay or overturn these rules.
The reformulated gas additive MTBE has been found in
drinking water aquifers across the nation, potentially
threatening public health. While the environmental community
supports taking action to protect our drinking water supplies,
legislation to address MTBE contamination should not result in
a reduction in clean air benefits. Therefore, LCV supports
provisions to ensure that all of the air quality benefits of
existing clean gasoline programs are maintained.
Clean
Water/Coastal Protections
Half of the water
pollution in the U.S. is from nonpoint sources, such as runoff
from farms, forests, urban streets, construction sites and
mines. Implementation of section 319 of the Clean Water Act
Amendments of 1987 has not adequately stemmed the flow of
polluted runoff. A more comprehensive national program is
needed to help states and communities protect their valuable
water resources. Representative Jim Saxton's (R-NJ) bill to
reauthorize the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) (H.R. 1110)
included a nonpoint source section, which unfortunately was
eliminated during committee markup last fall. Also during
committee consideration, Representative Richard Pombo (R-CA)
amended the bill with a broad "takings" provision that would
redefine the Fifth Amendment's property right protections.
Specifically, under the amendment, state and federal
governments would be required to compensate every landowner,
as well as land and property users, for any restrictions
applied to the use of non-federal property for public
purposes. Such a policy would effectively prevent any federal
and state management of coastal resources. CZMA should be
reauthorized with a nonpoint source pollution title and
without the broad takings provision.
Last year, the
House of Representatives passed the BEACH Bill (H.R. 999, S.
522) sponsored by Representative Brian Bilbray (R-CA). This
legislation would protect public health and safety by
requiring states with coastal recreation waters to adopt water
quality standards for pathogens and pathogen indicators. This
legislation should be adopted by the Senate and signed into
law.
The Florida Everglades is one of the most
endangered ecosystems in the country. Already, one-half of the
original Everglades marshes have been drained and lost forever
to urban and agricultural development. Natural water flow
patterns have been altered and regulated and water flowing
into the Everglades from nearby farms and urban developments
is often polluted with fertilizers. The Everglades restoration
effort is the largest-scale ecosystem restoration project ever
attempted anywhere in the world. The environmental community
supports legislation that would restore the natural water flow
throughout the Everglades, while cleaning up the polluted
waters and acquiring sensitive lands before they are lost to
development.
Public Lands
Unchecked development is threatening the environment
and the quality of life of millions of Americans. The lack of
open space, coupled with increased traffic congestion, has led
thousands of communities across the nation to look for smart
growth solutions. The federal Land and Water Conservation Fund
(LWCF) helps communities preserve open space, using revenues
derived from offshore oil drilling. Unfortunately, Congress
only devotes a fraction of the revenues it collects for
protecting open space. Last fall, the House Resources
Committee approved H.R. 701, the Conservation and Reinvestment
Act (CARA). The environmental community is eager to move CARA
forward while working to solve some remaining problems with
the legislation. LCV wants to assure a permanent source of
funding for LWCF, coastal, marine and wildlife conservation
that does not encourage an increase in offshore oil drilling
or funds environmentally damaging "infrastructure" projects.
Legislation should not impose debilitating procedural
restrictions on federal land acquisitions, nor should it fail
to assure the appropriate use of federal wildlife money by the
states.
The Interior Department has recommended the
designation of four national monuments to protect unique and
fragile places for future generations (Grand Canyon-Parashant,
Agua Fria, California Coastal Rocks & Islands, and
Pinnacles National Monument). The environmental community will
oppose any effort to delay or prohibit the designation of
these areas as national monuments or to restrict the
President's authority under the Antiquities Act to protect our
nation's natural treasures.
There are very few places
on Earth free from the impacts of man, and the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is one of them. H.R. 1239 and S. 867
would protect the 1.5 million-acre arctic coastal plain,
effectively safeguarding nearly 200 species of wildlife,
including polar bears, grizzlies, caribou, wolves and
migratory birds. This legislation should be adopted by
Congress and signed into law. Consequently, the environmental
community opposes legislation to allow oil and gas drilling on
the coastal plain, such as Representative Don Young's (R-AK)
Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Security Act (H.R. 2250)
and Senator Frank Murkowski's (R-AK) legislation (S. 2214).
The wild and unspoiled Colorado Plateau, including
Utah's Basin and Range Mojave Desert regions, is one of
America's most threatened landscapes. The environmental
community opposes legislation (H.R. 3035) that would designate
an inadequate amount of wilderness in these regions. Another
bill relating to Utah's public lands, H.R. 3605, provides some
additional protections for an area of southern Utah known as
the San Rafael Swell. However, the bill does not adequately
address off-road vehicle use of the area, and fails to address
whether parts of this area should be designated as wilderness.
The environmental community opposes this bill in its current
form. Instead, LCV supports the America's Redrock Wilderness
Act (H.R. 1732) that will protect these important lands as
wilderness and help ensure a lasting legacy for America's
future.
National Forests
More than half of
the lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service (90 million
acres) have been damaged by decades of forest clearcutting,
oil and gas development, mining and other industrial uses.
Last fall, President Clinton directed the Forest Service to
develop a policy to protect up to 60 million acres of roadless
areas. This action will protect for future generations the
integrity of wild forests and the many important public values
they provide such as recreation, fish and wildlife habitat and
clean drinking water. The environmental community will
vigorously fight any effort to impede or delay the
implementation of this policy.
Last year, the House
passed the County Schools Revitalization Act (H.R. 2389),
which continues the destructive link between funding for rural
education and timber sales in our national forests. The
environmental community opposed this legislation because it
would fund our children's education by cutting our national
forests, and potentially divert funds from other important
conservation programs. LCV supports funding county payments
from the federal treasury rather than from logging revenues.
Global Warming
Growing scientific
consensus indicates that human activities are having a
discernable impact on the Earth's climate. The burning of
fossil fuels coupled with deforestation and other human
activities have led to increased atmospheric concentrations of
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Climatologists
predict that a warming planet will have a wide range of
impacts on civilization ranging from more frequent extreme
weather events (floods, heatwaves, droughts) to shifting
disease vectors and changes in agricultural production.
The Kyoto Protocol obligates developed nations to
reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases below 1990 levels.
Such decisive action could help protect this and future
generations from the many implications of living on a warmer
and wetter planet. In the absence of ratification of the
treaty, efforts to establish a credit system for early actions
would be an important first step for facilitating emission
reductions. A credit system would also help spur research and
development of technologies to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
Automobiles are a major source of
greenhouse gases. As a result, LCV supports raising Corporate
Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to encourage the
development and use of more fuel-efficient cars and light
trucks. Furthermore, regulatory loopholes, originally drafted
to accommodate commercial vehicles when "light trucks" were
really trucks, should no longer be applied to sport utility
vehicles (SUVs). Not only does this huge exemption threaten
our energy security, it threatens our clean air and climate
protection goals.
The burning of fossil fuels produces
greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, that contribute to
global warming. The environmental community strongly supports
shifting federal research and development funds away from
technologies to produce, refine and burn fossil fuels, and
towards the development and use of cleaner fuels, including
renewable energy sources.
Continue
on to Page Two of the Report >>>
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