Democrats Announce Sweeping New Energy Legislation (Kerry quoted)

[ProSense]

Democrats Announce Sweeping New Energy Legislation; The Clean EDGE Act

"Just look at the skyrocketing gas prices. It's clearer than ever that we need an energy policy that puts people ahead of big oil," Senator John Kerry said. "Oil companies don't need more tax breaks -- and they've said so themselves. We need to end these giveaways, so we can invest in an energy plan that ends our dependence on foreign oil and eases the burden on American families. It's time to put our families and our future first."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2631441&mesg_id=2631441

[ProSense]

1. I posted

some information on Kerry's record in the thread:

First, Senator Kerry. Now you can disagree over the significance of his record on the environment during his years of service as an elected official, but John Kerry has one. And the record begins during a period in his life that hasn't gotten much attention -- a period after Vietnam, after he was a prosecutor, but before he was elected to the U.S. Senate. The time was 1982, the place was Massachusetts. The environmental issue of the day was acid rain, and people were still coming to terms with it. Dianne Dumanoski was an environment writer for the Boston Globe at the time.

DUMANOSKI: Acid rain was a really dominant issue. We had lakes – actually we still have lakes -- that were acidified and had lost their fish, there's been widespread damage to the forests in New England

Snip...

DUMANOSKI: He sort of became the point person on acid rain and was the person that was doing all this organizing and collaborating with the other governors and the Eastern Canadian provincial heads of government. And there was actually a treaty that was signed in '83. It was actually the first agreement on acid rain. It really predated the agreements in Europe and this actually later became the blueprint for the provisions in the Clean Air Act that didn't get passed until 1990.

CURWOOD: Dianne Dumanoski credits Kerry with developing a strong grasp of this complex issue, in which pollutants are carried by the wind from the Midwest to the U.S. and Canadian east. Bob Turner also covered the earlier career of John Kerry and is now deputy editorial page editor at the Boston Globe.

Snip...

http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=04-P13-00030#feature1

Senator John Kerry has stood up to polluters and been a champion of protecting human health and the environment during his entire career in public office.

He spoke at the first Earth Day in Massachusetts in 1970. As Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, Kerry chaired an Acid Rain Task Force and issued a "Call for Action" on the topic of air pollution. As a Senator he has championed the cause of conservation, been a leader in the fight against polluters and blocked the Bush Administration's efforts to reverse 30 years of environmental progress.

From clean air to clean water to toxics to public lands to energy, we can count on John Kerry to provide leadership, vision, and solutions so that all Americans can have a clean, safe, healthy environment.

John Kerry on Clean Air

John Kerry has been a leader in the fight for clean air since before his election to the U.S. Senate in 1984. In his first year as a Senator, John Kerry introduced the National Acid Rain Control Act to improve standards and create a fund for clean air. He has continued to work for cleaner air since then, defending the Clean Air Act against weakening in 1990 and more recently opposing the Bush Administration's attempts to weaken the Clean Air Act's New Source Review rules. John Kerry opposes President Bush's plans to increase the allowable toxic mercury pollution in our air, and as President would immediately reinstate Clean Air protections weakened under the Bush Administration.


John Kerry on Clean Water and Drinking Water

John Kerry has consistently pushed for strengthening protections for our nation's waters and drinking water. In his first year in the Senate, John Kerry sponsored a bill to help states clean up water quality problems due to acid rain. He was a vocal opponent of the Bush Administration's attempt to weaken drinking water standards for arsenic, and he pushed for the Bush Administration to repeal a dangerous proposed rulemaking that would have removed 20 million acres of wetlands from Clean Water Act protections. He opposed federal funding for polluting factory farms that are a major source of water pollution. Kerry also opposed Bush's proposal to allow coal companies to shave off mountaintops and bury the rivers below under tons of mine waste in violation of the Clean Water Act.

http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/presidential_endorsement/factsheet_kerry.asp

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2631441&mesg_id=2631634