Frank Pallone

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Exactly. And the fact of the matter is a lot of the provisions in that dirty water bill are still attached as riders to these appropriations, as well as some of these stopgap spending bills that continue to come up, so they are not going away. They are still there, but now they are sort of hidden a little more. I think it is incumbent upon us, as Democrats, and whether Democrat or Republican Members of this body who feel that the environment needs to be protected, in celebration, if you will, of Earth Day, that we continue to be vigilant and make the point that this Congress has been terrible, has been the worst Congress on record with regard to environmental protection. We have to bring to the light and to the public the fact of how they are going about this, and how the Republican leadership continues with this antienvironmental agenda. So I want to thank the gentleman again for being here tonight, and I know we are going to continue to make this point leading up to Earth Day next Monday and beyond.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, my purpose tonight is to talk about Earth Day and the lessons of Earth Day and what it means for us now in 1996. I think many of our constituents know that Earth Day is 26 years old now. It will take place this year on April 22, and the first Earth Day was in April 1970. The reason we are concerned and the reason that several Democrats are here tonight to talk about Earth Day is because we are very concerned that this Congress, under the Republican leadership of the gentleman from Georgia, Newt Gingrich, has essentially tried to roll back the bipartisan effort that has been made in the House of Representatives, in the Senate, by Presidents of both parties over the last 25 years to try to improve our laws and our enforcement with regard to environmental protection. In the last 14 or 15 months or so that we have been here in this Congress, we have seen day after day, week after week, efforts by Speaker Gingrich and the Republican leadership to weaken the laws that have been on the books, and to provide less funding for enforcement and investigation against polluters who are violating those laws. Before I go on, though, I will yield to the gentlewoman from Florida [Mrs. Meek] who would also like to address this issue. I am very pleased she is here tonight, because I know how important Earth Day is to her, and how important environmental protection is to her.

Mr. PALLONE. I appreciate what the gentlewoman from Oregon [Ms. Furse] said. The gentlewoman again points out some very important themes, I think, that we need to stress for Earth Day. First of all, there has been tremendous progress. You talk about clean water. My district is totally on the water, either on the Atlantic Ocean or the Raritan Bay or the Raritan River. In the late 1980's, 1988, 1989, when I was first elected and came down here, we had beach closings. Some of the beaches were closed the entire summer because of the wash-ups that were coming from New York and north Jersey. Now that is totally changed. In the last few years the water has been relatively pristine. A lot of it has just been because of Federal grants and loans to the local municipalities, to the counties, to upgrade their sewage treatment plants. Money is a very important factor here. I think a lot of people deemphasize money, but when you talk about clean water action money means a lot, because money means you can build the treatment plants, that you can do the enforcement, go out and catch the polluters, you can do the investigations. When the Republican leadership starts to cut back as they have on these grants, we are getting less loans now for clean water because of cutbacks with these stopgap spending measures. We have less environmental cops on the beat, so to speak, less investigation being done, and the direct result of that is that we are going to see more pollution going into our waterways reversing, hopefully not too much, but reversing the trend of the last 25 years. The other thing that I wanted to point out that you stressed, I think, as well is that the problem that we face is with the Republican leadership. I think that when Americans went out and voted for a new majority, a new Republican majority in 1994, none of them, or very few of them, thought that they were electing a Republican majority that was going to put into leadership positions people that were going to make an antienvironmental agenda part of their program here in the House of Representatives. That is what we have seen with Speaker Gingrich, with Dick Armey, with some of the other Members who are in the Republican leadership. They have on a daily basis put forward legislation that would weaken environmental laws. It is not so much the individual perhaps Republicans that are doing this but the leadership. But they are the elected leadership and we have to hold them responsible for what is happening down here. It is a fact that this is what they are doing. I want to thank the gentlewoman for joining us here today.

Mr. PALLONE. Before we are finished with this special order tonight, maybe one of the things we could do is to bring up this memo that was sent out by the Republican leadership that essentially gets right to the point the gentleman is making about going out and hugging trees and going to zoos and all that to pretend that a Member is environmental.

Mr. PALLONE. I will read it directly. It will not take long. It is a pamphlet that was put out, I guess in October 1995, after the 9-month assault on the environment when they did the polling and found out that the public really did not like it, and it is amazing to me where they say, and I am just quoting, your constituents will give you more credit for showing up on a Saturday to help clean up the local park or beach then they will give a press release from someone in Washington talking about environmental issues. And they specifically say that you should go out and plant trees and go door to door and hand out tree samples, and then, last, become active in your local zoo. Go for a visit, participate in fund-raising events, become active on the zoo citizens advisory board. Now, do not get me wrong, I am all in favor of planting trees. I have done it myself. I go to the zoo all the time. I am a member of the zoo here in Washington and elsewhere. But the point is, this is just being used as a way to cover up a poor environmental record.

Mr. PALLONE. Exactly. Going back to the gentleman's point on the Safe Drinking Water Act, I am hearing that some in the leadership now are so concerned about their poor record on that statute that they have actually reached out to the Democrats and are talking about possibly coming up with some compromise legislation. But I will believe that when I see it.

Mr. PALLONE. I appreciate the gentleman's remarks. If I could just add again a couple of things that you pointed out and bring them back to this issue of what the Republican leadership has been doing in this House, one of the things that we keep hearing from the Speaker and Republican leadership is we do not need the national laws, the environmental protection on the national level, because the States are doing a good job. Twenty-five years after Earth Day we can send those responsibilities, if you will, to enforce the environment, to protect the environment, back to the States. As the gentleman so well points out, if each individual State has different laws when it comes to Superfund or clean water or whatever it happens to be, that does not solve the problem, because you get forum shopping; in other words, where a company will say ``I will not go to West Virginia. I will go to another State, because they have weaker laws.'' And if each State starts competing, if you will have to have weaker environmental protection to attract industry or whatever, then the common denominator gets lower and lower.

Mr. PALLONE. I agree, and I really appreciate the fact because I do not think anybody else tonight brought up this sort of Republican strategy which we have seen with a lot of the efforts to weaken environmental laws, where provisions that I call sunshine law provisions, let the light in and right-to-know provisions, the ability of citizen groups to bring suit, the ability of the Federal Government to provide grants to citizen action or activists who are going to look into or investigate environmental problems where they live. These kinds of protections that basically get the public more involved and sort of let in the light so that we know what is going on, those are the very things that in many of these bills that have come up that we have seen the Republican leadership try to weaken those protections.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for the remarks that she made, and again she has made some points that I think are really crucial in terms of this whole debate relative to Earth Day. I think that the Republican leadership consistently tries to pretend when we talk about the environment, that we are sort of the tree huggers. Not that there is anything wrong with hugging trees, but they forget the fact we are mainly talking about the public health and that when we talk about clean water, air and cleaning up hazardous waste sites, we are talking about direct health implications for the average person, for children, for mothers, whatever. Also, I am glad the gentlewoman brought out, she certainly knows as a member of the Committee on Appropriations that we continue to operate under these stopgap funding measures which are still creating tremendous problems for the EPA and their ability to enforce the law to clean up Superfund sites, to do proper investigations. I am a little afraid that because we have not had the shutdowns that the Republicans brought us a few months ago, at that time people were vividly aware of the fact that the EPA was closed down, that Superfund sites were not being cleaned up, that there was not anybody out there going against the polluters or finding the polluters. But even though we do not have the Government shutdown or any agencies shut down now, the amount of money that is available for the EPA and other environment-related agencies is significantly cut back because of these stopgap measures. I think this one we are under now extends to the 24th, sometime next week or so. We are just hoping if we get another continuing resolution or another appropriations bill it is going to be one that provides adequate funding for the EPA and these other agencies. Again, so far the Republican leadership has not indicated they are going to do that, so these agencies are being crippled in their ability to enforce the law and do the things important to us.

Mr. PALLONE. Let me say, first of all, when you talk about the Safe Drinking Water Act and the efforts to weaken those protections, it is a real problem. We are hearing now that because of the fact that the Republican leadership did some polling, they essentially found out that they were not doing too well with their constituents and possibly leading to next November's election, because they were perceived as antienvironment.

Mr. PALLONE. I yield such time to the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Pelosi] who has been an outspoken protector of the environment here in the House.

Mr. PALLONE. I appreciate the gentleman's remarks, and maybe I could just briefly out sort the cynicism that I have seen around here on the part of the Republican leadership to the whole environmental issue. I sort of started this evening by saying that when the Republican majority was elected in November 1994, they put forward a Contract With America, so to speak. There really was nothing in there that would stand out to anybody who was voting that would suggest that they were putting forth an antienvironmental agenda. But when Speaker Gingrich was elected and when the House organized the Republican majority, very quickly we saw an effort by the Republican leadership to bring to the floor what we call reauthorization bills, where we revisit various environmental laws, like the Clean Water Act, and use those reauthorization bills as vehicles to try to weaken directly environmental legislation, whether it was the Clean Water Act or the Superfund coming out of committee or some of the other bills that we rely on as sort of the whole basis for environmental protection here.

Mr. PALLONE. Absolutely, and it was well documented that much of the legislation coming out of committee was actually written at those meetings with the polluters or with the special interests, and that they were even directing when they were coming to the floor. They were not terribly successful in accomplishing that goal of weakening those statutes directly because of course the Democrats in the House battled them, and even when the bills passed the House, they had difficulty getting them through the Senate because the Senate was not as responsive to trying to weaken the environmental laws. So very quickly, after that first 6 months of trying to go directly at environmental protection standards and statutes, we saw the Republican leadership sort of regroup and look at the budget, if you will, and the appropriations bills as a vehicle to try to turn back the clock since Earth Day 1970. So we saw, as was mentioned by some of our colleagues here tonight, riders, legislative language, if you will, weakening language put into the budget. We also saw, and most importantly, efforts to cut back on the amount of money that was appropriated for the agencies that protect the environment, like the EPA or the Department of the Interior, and even more so deep cuts in enforcement in those environmental cops on the beat, as you point out. Then, of course, by the end of 1995 we got to the point where we had these Government shutdowns, where those agencies were shut down and were not able to function at all. I think at that point, and you and I recognize, I think, that at that point, at the end of 1995, Speaker Gingrich and the Republican leadership started to do this polling which indicated to them that the public did not like what was going on with their antienvironment crusade. That is when we got the memo saying go out and plant the trees and join your local zoo.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, if the gentlewoman will just let me comment briefly on some of the themes she mentioned, because I think they were very important, first of all it is interesting, coming from the State of New Jersey, which of course is a very densely populated State, New Jerseyans tend to think of Florida as having more open space, more pristine area. It is not always the case, but that is the general impression. The fact that you are here talking about some of the urban areas and eyesores, I do not even tend to think that is true in the State of Florida, but obviously it is, and it goes to point out to me how universal the concerns are about the environment. The other thing I wanted to mention is that I think it is so crucial to stress the need to have Federal programs to help with the cost of cleanup. The gentlewoman mentioned specifically, I think she was making reference to the Superfund program or something like that. One of the biggest criticisms that I had of the Republican leadership is when the Superfund bill came up for reauthorization before our Committee on Commerce, we had Republicans who were making statements to the effect that ``We do not really need the Superfund anymore, because that can be dealt with by the States and the localities. They can deal with those hazardous waste sites, they can come up with better ways of funding and providing cleanup of hazardous waste sites on the State or local level.'' I know that is simply not true. New Jersey, which has probably done more than any other State to clean up sites that are not on the Superfund list, nonetheless continues to have problems in terms of coming up with the financing, and particularly when we are dealing with urban areas where the property tax base is not there; for them to find the money to do that kind of cleanup is just not going to happen, which is why we need a Superfund program. I also appreciate the fact that the gentlewoman brought up this whole issue of environmental justice and that movement, because too often I think people associate the environmental movement with rich people or the elite, and you point out very well that that is simply not the case, that people who live in urban areas, poor areas, have just as much, if not maybe more, to be concerned about when it comes to environmental cleanup. The last theme, if I could mention it, the whole idea with regard to jobs and the environment; your point that when we clean up sites, when we deal with environmental protection, we are creating jobs, that is so true. One of the biggest criticisms I have of the Republican leadership is that they constantly try to juxtapose the environment versus jobs; that somehow they are mutually exclusive, and to the extent we clean up the environment, we displace people. That is simply not true. The fact of the matter is that environmental protection and the progress we have made over the last 26 years since Earth Day in 1970 has really actually created more jobs and created a better economy and allowed for more job creation. I appreciate the gentlewoman's coming here tonight and expressing her views. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Oregon [Ms. Furse].

Mr. PALLONE. I yield to the gentleman from West Virginia.

Mr. PALLONE. You are absolutely right. In my district it is so vivid, your point, in the sense when we had these beach closings in the late eighties, billions of dollars literally were lost in tourism at the Jersey shore. There were no jobs at all in the summer. So I do not think I could find a better example. If we do not have clean water at the Jersey shore, we do not have an economy. For the life of me, I do not understand why a lot of the Republicans or those in the leadership do not understand that. But a good environment means good jobs. So thank you again for participating. I would like to yield now to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Doggett].

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, April 20, 1996, the Second Annual Algonquin Arts Ball, ``A Tribute to Era Tognoli,'' will be held at the Warren Hotel in Spring Lake, NJ. On this occasion, Ms. Tognoli will receive the Algonquin Arts Award for Outstanding Service to the Arts for her contribution to the cultural life of the Jersey Shore area as founder and director of the Metro Lyric Opera Company and the Monmouth Opera Festival. Ms. Tognoli will also receive funding to establish an operetta series at the newly refurbished Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan, NJ, and to continue opera education for children. Saturday's ball will benefit the Algonquin Arts nonprofit corporation, which seeks to bring live performance programs and arts education to the Shore community. Proceeds from last year's ball sponsored a new children's concert series presented by one of the Shore area's great artistic traditions, Father Alphonse Stephenson and the Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea. Live productions, children's theater, and educational programs have been highlights of the past season, while programming is being expanded to include ballet, jazz, and historic dramatizations. Mr. Speaker, I am concerned that many people, including some Shore residents, do not realize the wonderful tradition of artistic and cultural offerings in coastal New Jersey. While the Jersey Shore is known for many things, many people often assume that you have to go to New York or Philadelphia for first-rate artistic events. Not true. I salute Era Tognoli, the Council of the Algonquin Arts Non-Profit Corporation, their board of directors and their many members and contributors, for continuing to contribute to excellence in the arts and further enhancing the quality of life in that unique region we proudly call the Jersey Shore.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I know that we are leading up to Earth Day next Monday. I was involved in the original Earth Day 26 years ago, and I think it is very unfortunate that now in this Congress under Speaker Gingrich we see the worst environmental record in the history of the Congress. In effect, what is happening is that the Republican leadership is doing their best to try to roll back 25 years or 26 years of environmental progress that we have seen in this Congress on a bipartisan basis since the first Earth Day. The worst part, I think, is with regard to enforcement. One of the things that I have always said is that if you do not have proper enforcement and investigation to make sure that there are teeth in your environmental laws, then you in effect do not have any environmental laws. This continued process with the Republican leadership where they do not provide enough funding for the EPA and other agencies that are involved in environmental protection so that there are not the enforcers or the environmental cops on the beat, if you will, out there doing the investigations, catching the polluters, indicating or making it possible to impose penalties against those who violate our environmental laws, this constant effort is hurting environmental protection in this country.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Red Bank Catholic Women's Basketball Team for winning the New Jersey State High School Basketball Championship. Back in the Sixth Congressional District, these young women have provided their fans and myself with much excitement and sense of pride. From reaching the finals of the Shore Conference Tournament to winning the State Championship at the Meadowlands, Red Bank Catholic has demonstrated its commitment to excellence. Throughout the year, Red Bank Catholic has stressed the importance of team unity as a major component of victory. This approach to the season, in addition to its dedication and hard work, provided the team with the necessary drive to become the best high school basketball team in the State of New Jersey. In addition to the athletic abilities possessed by this team, the players of Red Bank Catholic must be saluted for their academic excellence. On and off the court, these student athletes have maintained athletic prowess and academic integrity in light of intense pressure. Once again I would like to salute these young women for capturing the high school basketball championship and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I think many of us know that for the last few weeks we have been in our districts. The House has not been in session until yesterday evening. Of course, it is an opportunity to talk to your constituents on a daily basis and get their input. What I found overwhelmingly was a feeling on the part of my constituents in my district in New Jersey that this House of Representatives and this Congress under the leadership of Speaker Gingrich and the Republicans is not getting the job done. My constituents expressed concerns about health care, whether or not they were going to have affordable health insurance or any health insurance at all; they expressed a great deal of concern about the environment, because we are now getting close to the summer season. My district is very dependent on shore tourism. For the last few years we have seen significant, at least in the last 10 years, we have seen significant improvement in our water quality, and they do not want to see the clock turned back on environmental protection. They are also concerned about education. Today in my district in New Jersey we vote on the school board elections and the budgets. Property taxes are going up in many municipalities, and there is concern about a lack of State and Federal aid to help and provide property tax relief. They are also concerned about jobs. They are concerned about whether or not pension, health care benefits, are going to be available, and whether they are going to have a job at all. I ask the Members of this House, I ask the Speaker, what is it that this Congress under the Republican leadership, under Speaker Gingrich and the rest of the Republican leadership, have done about any of these issues? And the answer is pretty much nothing. We are back now for a 6-week session. I understand that the House Republican leadership under Speaker Gingrich is going to propose some bills that are essentially, in my opinion, nothing but smoke and mirrors, an effort to sort of suggest that they are going to address education, environment, and health care issues, but that they really will not be addressing those issues in a significant way. Let me just talk a little bit, if I can, about what is missing from this Republican leadership or Gingrich agenda. First of all, the education element. We are continuing to operate now as we have since the beginning of this fiscal year on what we call continuing resolutions. In other words, we have not passed a budget, we have not passed appropriation bills, to keep the Government going, and I know we have had actually at least two Government shutdowns because of the inability, if you will, of the House Republican leadership to pass legislation to keep the Government operating. But a big part of these continuing resolutions or stopgap spending appropriation measures that have been passed here have actually implemented major cuts in education funding, for title I and other programs that are important to our school districts. What that means is that when those school districts do not get the education funding to hire teachers or to pay for teachers' salaries or whatever, they either have to lay teachers off, as many have now or give notice of layoffs, or increase their local property taxes to make up the difference. That is what is happening in the State of New Jersey. Many of our constituents are going to be going to the polls today voting on school board budgets that are higher because they cannot expect the Federal aid that they normally would have. What that means is that property taxes go up for many of them and property taxes are already too high. There has been a lot of talk about taxation by the Republican leadership around here, but they have not mentioned the fact they are actually increasing property taxes because of the cutbacks in education funding. On the issue of the environment, as you know, next Tuesday, or next Monday I should say, will be Earth Day. We will be celebrating, I believe, the 26th Earth Day. Over the last 25 years, on a bipartisan basis, there were major accomplishments to protect and improve the protection of the environment. Water and air quality have improved. But if you look at the record of this Republican Congress and the Gingrich agenda over the last year, they have tried significantly to turn back the clock on environmental protection. They introduced and passed in this House what I call a dirty water bill, which eliminates a lot of the protections to improve water quality, particularly with regard to enforcement. The spending bills, the same stopgap spending bills that have major negative impacts on education have also had negative impacts on environmental protection, to the point where the EPA cannot do inspections, cannot do cleanup of hazardous waste sites pursuant to the Superfund Program. Grants that would go to municipalities and counties to upgrade sewage treatment, to make sure our water continues to be clean, have been cut back significantly. What I have always said is it is very nice to have environmental laws on the books, and we do have some good ones, but what is the point if you do not have the money to enforce those laws? So I would just conclude, Mr. Speaker, and say that this House and this Republican leadership needs to address the real issues that face the American people, and not operate in this smoke and mirrors agenda.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Colorado went into the details of why these bills have been brought to the floor today and why it is important that we move on them. In each case they are supported on a bipartisan basis, and I certainly support them because of the limitations set in the Federal Power Act. We basically have a tradition in this House on a bipartisan basis of moving these noncontroversial license extensions, and I am pleased that we are continuing that tradition today by taking up these bills. They were reported out without dissent, and I do support each of them. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to comment on some of the comments that were being made on the other side of the aisle by Republicans about Earth Day and progress on the environment. It is certainly true that a lot more needs to be done on environmental protection, whether it is cleaner air or cleaning up more of the hazardous wastesites under the Superfund Program. But to suggest that the answer to that or the way to do that is to cut back on the number of people who work for the EPA, or to cut back on the investigators and those who go out and enforce the existing environmental laws, or to weaken those laws so that they do not provide as much environmental protection, well, that makes no sense at all. If you are concerned about the environment, you do not turn the clock back 25 years on a bipartisan basis in this House and the Senate and in the Presidency to try and improve environmental quality and to increase enforcement. That is what Speaker Gingrich and the Republican leadership are trying to do here in this House. They are trying to turn back the clock. They are saying we do not need the people to do the investigation, we do not need the enforcers. We are going to let industry do its own thing. The bottom line is that you are not going to improve the quality of this Nation's environment unless you do more to protect the environment, have stronger laws, and have better enforcement. That is what we need. That is not what is happening here. Unfortunately, we are leading up to Earth Day this year with this Republican leadership working in the opposite direction.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to thank the gentleman for moving H.R. 2695, which deals with the two hydroelectric projects in the State of Pennsylvania. This bill is sponsored by the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Klink] who is a member of our committee. It passed unanimously, and I would urge its adoption. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would indicate support on our side of the aisle for the bill. The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Costello] was here before and asked, of course, that it be moved.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.