Senator Feinstein has consistently supported the expansion and protection of national parks, forests, wilderness areas and other federal lands in California and the rest of the country. She is also fighting to ensure that the air and water in California and the rest of the U.S. are clean and safe. In response to her dedication to the environment, the League of Conservation Voters has given her a 100 percent rating for the past four years.  Her record on the environment includes support for:

Protection of California's Natural Resources

The California Desert - Senator Feinstein sponsored and won passage in 1994 of landmark legislation to protect more than 7 million acres of pristine California desert - the largest such designation in the history of the continental United States - and established the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the East Mojave Natural Preserve.  She also secured $15 million in federal funding, with a commitment for another $15 million in fiscal year 2001 to complete the public-private purchase of more than 437,000 additional acres of pristine California desert habitat and help preserve the endangered desert tortoise and other wildlife.

Lake Tahoe - Senator Feinstein is the sponsor of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, which would preserve and restore this treasured natural resource by authorizing $300 million in federal funds over 10 years to match investments by the States of California and Nevada and local authorities and help reverse the environmental emergency that is threatening the future of the lake and forest.

Sequoia National Monument - Senator Feinstein supports the designation of 320,000 acres of forest as a national monument and has secured $2.4 million in fuels reduction management funds to help protect the forest from wildfires.

Otay Mountain - Senator Feinstein sponsored legislation signed into law in November 1999 to preserve 18,500 acres of the Otay Mountain region in eastern San Diego County. This mountain area is home to twenty sensitive plant and animal species, including the endangered quino checkerspot butterfly, the only known stand of Tecate cypress, as well as the only known population of the Mexican flannel bush.

Santa Rosa/San Jacinto Mountains - Senator Feinstein is the sponsor of a bill to designate the Santa Rosa/San Jacinto mountain range in Southern California as a National Monument.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area - Senator Feinstein is the sponsor of legislation to expand the boundaries of the Golden Gate Nation Recreation Area (GGNRA), including almost 1,300 acres of undeveloped land.

Conservation and Reinvestment Act - Senator Feinstein is an original cosponsor of this legislation to provide $2.8 billion annually in environmental funding from offshore oil and gas leases, including $325 million each year for conservation, restoration and parks projects in the State of California.

Effective Forest Management

Headwaters Forest - Senator Feinstein secured $250 million in federal funds to match state funding and purchase the 7,500 acre Headwaters Forest, a national treasure and the largest privately held stand of uncut old-growth redwoods. The agreement also helped preserve 12 additional groves of ancient redwood trees and provided strong protections for the endangered marbled murrelet and coho salmon.

Quincy Library Group - Senator Feinstein sponsored legislation to establish a pilot timber management plan as proposed by the Quincy Library Group, a coalition of local environmentalists, timber industry representatives and local elected Northern California officials to help battle the danger of wildfires by establishing firebreaks in dense areas of the Lassen, Plumas and Tahoe National Forests and protect the California Spotted Owl and other endangered species.

Fuels Reduction - Senator Feinstein is working to gain bipartisan support for legislation to secure funding that would go toward treating the 190 million acres of public land currently at the highest risk of catastrophic fire in the continental U.S., and ensure that worthy fuels reduction projects move foward as expiditiously as possible.

Clean Air and Water

MTBE - Senator Feinstein has led the fight to protect California's drinking water supply from contamination by the gasoline additive MTBE (a potential carcinogen in animals, which has contaminated at least 10,000 sites in California). She has sponsored legislation that would amends the Clean Air Act to permit Governors to waive the 2 percent oxygen content requirement for reformulated gasoline as long as the gasoline meets other Clean Air Act requirements.

CALFED - Senator Feinstein helped initiate the CALFED process, which is a long-term program to protect and restore the Bay/Delta estuary.  A new framework agreement between the State of California and the Department of Interior provides for additional water supply, more storage facility for all water users and for increased environmental protection.

CAFE Standards - Senator Feinstein continues to work on legislation to improve Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and light trucks. Closing the "SUV loophole" would prevent 240 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year, save 1 million barrels of oil a day, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil imports by 10 percent.

Clean Power Plants - Senator Feinstein is the author of legislation that prohibits the exportation of natural gas from the U.S. to Mexico for the use of electricity generation at power plants near the US/Mexico border that do not comply with air quality control standards of the U.S. Additionally, Senator Feinstein is the co-sponsor of legislation to amend the Clean Air Act to require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop regulations which achieve specified reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, and mercury from power plants by January 1, 2007.