Date: 1988-07-27
Speaker: STAI FOUD (democrat)
Chamber: S

But the threats do not stop with our forests either. Mr. President. Despite nearly two decades of billion dollar expenditures to control air pollution. smog levels throughout the United States have risen to the highest levels in a decade during this summer. That is partially because hot weather is the catalyst which allows two air pollutantsorganic chemicals and oxides of nitrogento form ground level ozone. also known as smog. As the Earth grows hotter. the levels of smogalready high enough to endanger the health of 100 million Americanswill continue to increase. For a period. smog levels were held in check by the Federal air pollution control imposed on automobiles. But the Nation has been coasting on that program for nearly 8 years. doing virtually nothing else to control air pollution. Now. we have just about run out of progress. and as the temperatures Increaseas they surely willsmog will worsen. Meanwhile. high overhead. the thin layer of ozone gas which shields the planet from the deadly cold and solar radiation of space was growing thinner and thinner. Ii compressed. the ozone layer would be only the thickness of a plastic trash bag3 milsyet it is all that stands between life on Earth and radiation so Intense that it can explode cells on contact. Over the Antarctic. chemicals have dissolved the ozone layer. opening a hole the size of North America and letting through massive amounts of the blistering ultraviolet radiation. The thinning has spread northward. coverIng New Zentand and Australia. At the North Pole. the depletion has edged down into Maine and the Dakotas. Because the chemicals that cause this condition last so long. it will be at least a century before the depletion can be reversed. even if production and use of those chemicals were to stop instantly and completely. These threats are linked. Higher temperatures at ground level produce more smog. and also accelerate the chemical reaction which destroys the ozone layer. As the ozone far overhead Is destroyed. the air below thickens and heats. Scientists call these relationships "positive feedbacks". Some scientists tell us that what happened to the forests in Eastern North America was probably the result of a positive feedbacka reaction which accelerates so rapidly that by the time it Is seen. it is too late to stop. Certainly. what happened in the Antarctic was a positive feedback. The cold there caused a runaway reaction which consumed all of the available ozone. sweeping through the stratosphere there like a firestorm. It took scientists completely by surprise. The National Academy of Sciences has warned that other such surprises lie in wait for humanity unless action is taken. and quickly. But. these warnings have disappeared from public view without a trace. They are being ignored just as the earlier warnings fell on deaf ears. Mr. President. the list of dangers can go on and on. And as time continues to pass. it will happen unless we act swiftly and decisively. That is what this Senator Is proposing. Mr. President: fast. decisive action. Some may read this bill and say It is too stringent. Yet as stringent as this bills provisions may be it would eliminate only one degree of Increase from Jl 27.198 the projected global warming of 8 Fahrenheit. Others will say that the United States cannot solve this problem by Itselfand that is true. Even modest pollution growth in the developing countries will overwhelm the progress which this bill would make. But someone. somewhere. must take the first step. Perhaps no other countries will step forward. But certainly they will fall to act if we never ask. And perhaps this bill demands too much in a few places. But it is better to demand too much of ourselves than too little. And finally. perhaps this bill might mean some fundamental changes in the way Americans. and others. conduct our lives. But. who among us today would prefer the world of 50 to 60 years agobefore vaccines eliminated polio and other crippling childhood diseases? Before refrigeration made possible generations of healthier and happier children? Before widespread availability of electricity made life and leisure possible? No one can accurately predict what the world of tomorrow will be like if we make the changes which this bill asks. But. for myself. I am confident that It will be a better world. What we can Imagine. and Imagine all too easily. is what the world may resemble if we fail to act. It will be a world hostile to humanity. and the rest of life. in dozens of ways. It will be a world which I would wish on neither my children nor my grandchildren. We need not accept that bleak prediction. We need not accept a continued deterioration of our planet and of our quality of life. Man can make a difference and. by introducing this legislation here today. I urge the Senate of the United States to take the lead in that noble endeavor. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that a summary of this bill and the text of the bill be printed in the REcoRD. Mr. President. the effort to protect our health and environment from the hazards of manmade pollutants is an everchanging and unending struggle. I have learned that from nearly two decades of experience in the Senate. working in the field of environmental protection. I also know that. while we have made significant progress In this effort. there are even greater challenges ahead. So now. near the end of my slay in the Senate of the United States. I have come here to introduce. on behalf of myself and Mr. BATICUS. Mr. CHAFEE. and Mr. DURENBEIGER. the Global Environmental Protection Act of 1988. This bill asks the American people. and by implication the inhabitants of the rest of this planet as well. to confront the threat that atmospheric contaminatlon poses to our future existence. We should make no mistake about it. What is at stake is life as we know it. and possibly even life itself. The worlds best scientists have been telling us that. through our conduct. we have been conducting a massive experiment with the Earths future without knowing the outcome. The overall outcome may be uncertain. but some specific consequences of this experiment have already become quite clear. We already know that our planet is hotter. its protective atmosphere is thinner. and Its air is more poisonous than at any time in recorded historyall because of air pollution. Any one of these circumstances not only threatens the global environment. but imperils world stability in a way that increases international tensions and raises the risk of conflict. We humans are making vast changes in the underpinnings of virtually every important realm to create a globe that is notably different from any that man has experienced. These changes have taken place in the ocean. the atmosphere. the soil. the temperature. and in all living things. In the United States. this sununers drought has focused public and press attention on the "greenhouse effect"the warming of Enrtih because of air pollution. Despite the national at tent.Ion paid to the drought throughout the Midwest in the ..pring and summer of 1988. few people realize that other of the worlds breadbaskets have also been gripped by the searing heat. China. Vietnam. Brazil. Czechoslovakia. Canada. Ethiopia. and India have also been starved for water. In India. where the monsoons for an extended time failed for the second year in a row. there was lootingnot for money. gold. or even food. but for wat er. Throughout the world. the hottest year on record was 1987. followed closely by 1983 and 1981. The Antarctic Ice sheet has begun to melt. ocean levels are rising. Caribbean coral is being killed by hot waters. and the snowpack In the American West is the thinnest in a century. Today. literally as I speak. forest firest are sweeping through our West. endangering our oldest and most majestic national parks and w ildermess areas. We are told they are the worst In a century. Becau.e humanity has already flooded the air with so many chemicals that last for so many years. temperatures will continue to increase until the middle of the next century. Yet temperature increases are not our only concerns. The environment has been massively disturbed in other ways as well. The press and public have been so preoccupied with the drought that they failed to notice the massive decline and death of forests in eastern North America that has been documented by scientists. Every major tree specieswhite and yellow pine. oak. spruce. yellow and sugar maple. sweetgum. Fraser fir. and beechis growing slower and dying faster. On Mount Mitchell. a North Carolina mountain which is the highest point east of the Rockies. the clouds have been as poisonous as battery acid since May 1. The forests on that mountain. and along the entire Appalachian chain from Maine to Georgia. are dying by the thousands. An article describing this circumstance appeared in the New York Times last Sunday. and I ask unanimous consent that it be reprinted at the conclusion of my remarks. I also ask unanimous consent that an article from the Washington Post describing the forest fires sweeping through the West also be reprinted at the conclusion of my remarks. But the threats do not stop with our forests either. Mr. President. Despite nearly two decades of billiondollar exuenditures to control air pollution. smog levels throughout the United Stat(.s have risen to the highest levels in a decade during this summer. That is partially because hot weather is the catalyst which allows two air polhltantsorganlc chemicals and oxides of nitrogento form ground level ozone. also known as smog. As the Earth grows hotter. the levels of smog--already high enough to endanger the health of 100 million Americanswill continue to increase. For a period. smog levels were held in check by the Federal air pollution control imposed on automobiles. But the Nation has been coasting on that program for nearly 8 years. doing virtually nothing else to control air polluion. Now. we have just about run out of progress. and as the temperatures increase--as they surely willsmog will worsen. Meanwhile. high overhead. the thin layer of ozone gas which shields the planet front the deadly cold and solar radiation of space is growing thinner and thinner. If compressed. the ozone layer would be only the thickness of a plastic trash bag--3 milsyet it Is all that stands between life on Earth and radiation so intense that it can explode cells on contact. Over the Antarctic. chemicals have dissolved the ozone layer. opening a hole the size of North America and letting through massive amounts of the blistering ultraviolet radiation. The thinning has spread northward. covering New Zealand and Australia. At the North Pole. the depletion has edged down into Maine and the Dakotas. Because the chemicals that cause this condition last so long. it will be at least a century before the depletion can be reversed. even if production and use of those chemicals were to stop Instantly and completely. These threats are linked. Higher temperatu:-es at ground level produce more smog. and also accelerate the chemical reaction which destroys the ozone layer. As the ozone far overhead is destroyed. the air below thickens and heats. Scientists call these relationships positive feedbacks. Some scientists tell us that what happened to the forests in eastern North America was probably the restlt of a positive feedbacka reaction which accelerates so rapidly that by the tine it is seen. it Is too late to stop. Certainly. what happened In the Antarctic was a positive feedback. The cold there caused a runaway reaction which consumed all of the available ozone. sweeping through the stratosphere there like a firestorm. It took scientists completely by surprise. The National Academy of Sciences has warned that other such surprises lie in wait for humanity unless action is taken. and quickly. But. these warnings have disappeared from public view without a trace. They are being Ignored just as the earlier warnings fell on deaf ears. Mr. President. the list of dangers can go on and on. And as thie continues to pass. it will unless we act swiftly and decisively. That is what this Senator is proposing. Mr. President: fast. decisive action. Some may read this bill and say it is too stringent. Yet as stringent as this bills provisions may be it would eliminate only one degree of Increase from the projected global warming of eight degrees Fahrenheit. Others will say that the United States cannot solve this problem by itself--and that it true. Even modest pollution growth in the developing countries will overwhelm the progress which this bill would make. But someone. somewhere. must take the first step. Perhaps no other countries will step forward. But certainly they will fail to act if we never ask. And perhaps this bill demands too much in a few places. But it is better to demand too luch of ourselves than too little. And finally. prhaps this bill might mean some fundamental changes in the way Americans. and others. conduct our lives. But. who among us today would prefer the world of 50 to 60 years agobefore vaccines eliminated polio and other crippling childhood diseases? Before refrigeration made possible generations of healthier and happier children? Before widespread availability of electricity made life and leisure possible? No one can accurately predict what the world of tomorrow will be like if we make the changes which this bill iks. But. for myself. I am confident that it will be a better world. What we can imagine. and imagine all too easily. Is what the world may resemble if we fail to act. It will be a world hostile to humanity. and the rest of life. in dozens of ways. It will be a world which I would wish on neither my children nor my grandchildren. We need not accept that bleak prediction. We need not accept a continued deterioration of our planet and of our quality of life. Man can make a difference and. by introducing this legislation here today. I urge the Senate of the United States to take the lead in that noble endeavor. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that a summary of this bill and the text of tl.e bill be printed In the RECOaD at the conclusion of my remarks.