Senator Hollings believes we must conserve our natural resources
and use them efficiently to sustain South Carolina's high quality of life.
As a Senator, he has earned a reputation as a practical conservationist
who puts environmental issues on the forefront of the national agenda.
LEADER ON OCEAN POLICY
Sen. Hollings' record on ocean policy spans more than thirty years. In
1970, he played a major role in the establishment of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is charged with managing,
studying, and protecting the marine environment in a coordinated and
comprehensive manner. For his work and advocacy, he is widely regarded as
the "father of NOAA." More than 30 years later, NOAA still works to
provide timely and precise weather as well as water and climate forecasts,
to monitor the environment, to manage fisheries and build healthy
coastlines, and to ensure safe navigation of waterways.
SUSTAINING MARINE RESOURCES
Thirty years after the establishment of NOAA, Sen. Hollings recognized
the continued need to improve our understanding of oceans, their
exploration and their conservation. To that end, he authored the Oceans
Act of 2000, which passed both the Senate and the House unanimously, and
was signed into law in August 2000. This legislation is a blueprint for
protecting and sustaining our marine resources.
Under this law, President Bush is instructed to establish a 16- member
Commission on Ocean Policy, charged with recommending to Congress and the
President ways to sustain fisheries and other marine resources; to
preserve U.S. leadership on coastal issues; and to help protect coastal
residents from natural disasters. The Commission's work could not be more
timely: by 2010 some 60 percent of Americans will live along the coast,
placing ever increasing demands on our limited resources.
STOPPING POLLUTERS
Senator Hollings was instrumental in the passage of the Ocean Dumping
Act of 1972, which seeks to regulate intentional ocean disposal of
materials and authorizes related research. The law prohibits dumping in
waters under U. S. jurisdiction, by any U. S. vessel, or by any vessel
sailing from a U. S. port, except for that specifically allowed by
permits.
ENSURING PROPER COASTAL HEALTH AND MANAGEMENT
In 1972, Senator Hollings wrote and steered through Congress the
National Coastal Zone Management Act, which authorized grants to states
that develop and implement federally- approved coastal zone management
plans. The legislation authorized the National Estuarine Research Reserve
System, which created a partnership between the Federal government and
state and local entities in order to enhance informed management and
scientific understanding of estuarine and coastal habitats. The creation
of the ACE Basin in South Carolina is a direct result of Senator Hollings'
efforts to protect National Estuarine Research Reserves.
Senator Hollings gained appropriations support for construction of the
Marine Environmental Health and Research Laboratory (MEHRL) in Charleston.
Groundbreaking took place in October 1998, and the laboratory is nearing
completion. At this center, NOAA will partner with the South Carolina
Department of Natural Resources, the National Institutes of Standards and
Technology, the College of Charleston, and the Medical University of South
Carolina to promote collaborative, interdisciplinary research to assess
marine environmental quality and its links to human health.
PROTECTING WILDLIFE IN COASTAL AND MARINE HABITATS
Since the 1970s, Senator Hollings has worked to protect the species
that inhabit our waterways. A longtime opponent of commercial whaling,
Hollings authored and successfully pushed for enactment of the Marine
Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which has helped to protect and recover
marine mammals throughout the nation. This piece of legislation has become
a source for other countries in determining best practices for protecting
marine mammals.
Having long understood that comprehensive solutions are required to
save endangered species affected by both foreign and domestic actions, the
Senator has worked to promote conservation measures that address all of
these threats. In 1989, he successfully pushed for legislation to
establish a level playing field for American shrimpers and require foreign
nations to implement turtle protection programs that are comparable to
U.S. requirements. In addition, he worked to secure passage of legislation
prohibiting the import of fish caught using illegal high seas driftnets.
PRESERVING MARINE LIFE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
In 1996, Senator Hollings was instrumental in the passage of the
Sustainable Fisheries Act. An update of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, this
legislation caps fishery harvests at the maximum sustainable level and
requires fishery management plans to rebuild any overfished fisheries. It
also requires bycatch and waste reduction as well as the protection of
essential fish habitats. This law is working to ensure that we can reap
the commercial and recreational benefits of the sea for years to come. In
addition, Hollings authored the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative
Management Act in 1993 to preserve Atlantic coastal fisheries like
weakfish, horseshoe crabs, and striped bass.
CONSERVING SOUTH CAROLINA'S UNIQUE LAND
For decades, Senator Hollings has worked to protect South Carolina's
unique environment, so that South Carolinians and visitors from across the
nation are able to see wildlife in its natural habitat. Through his seat
on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, he has obtained funding to
purchase unspoiled lands throughout the state, protecting many of South
Carolina's unique landscapes for future generations to enjoy. They stretch
from the mountains to the coast and include:
- Jocassee Gorges within the Sumter National Forest
- Congaree Swamp National Monument
- ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge
- Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge
- Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge
- Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests
COASTAL AND ESTUARINE LAND PROTECTION ACT
In the 107th session, Sen. Hollings introduced the Coastal and
Estuarine Land Protection Act. The bill creates the Coastal and Estuarine
Land Program, within the Department of Commerce, to protect important
coastal and estuarine areas that have significant conservation,
recreation, ecological, historical or aesthetic values and are threatened
by development or conversion. The bill also authorizes the Secretary of
Commerce to award competitive grants to coastal states with approved
coastal management programs or National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERR)
for the purposes of acquiring property or interests in property.
IMPROVING FUEL EFFICIENCY, DECREASING DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL
In 1975, Senator Hollings authored and held extensive hearings on the
legislation that formed our nation's current Corporate Average Fuel
Economy (CAFE) standards. These standards have led to an approximate
doubling in the fuel economy of the new car fleet. The unfortunate news,
however, is that much of that progress was made in the 1970s and '80s - in
the '90s we actually went backwards. Senator Hollings' leadership on fuel
economy in the 1970s arose out of the same concerns for the nation's
energy security that we have today.
Therefore, in 2002, Senator Hollings introduced legislation that would
require automakers reach a 35 miles per gallon CAFE standard by 2013 - a
40 percent increase over the next 11 years, compared to the 85 percent
increase in fuel efficiency that automakers achieved within the first 7
years of the enactment of the original CAFE standards. Moreover, the
Hollings standards could save our nation 1.6 million barrels of oil per
day by 2015 - the same amount we imported from Saudi Arabia in 2000 - and
decrease our nation's dependence on foreign oil.
SAFE TREATMENT OF NUCLEAR WASTE
An original co-sponsor of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1987, Senator
Hollings also continues to push for legislation establishing a permanent
repository for high-level nuclear waste in a safe and timely manner. In
the meantime, he does all that he can to safeguard South Carolina from
becoming the nation's nuclear waste dumping ground, and he continues to
support the Governor's efforts to do the same.
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