By Frances Beinecke, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council
People often ask me these days what it is like to advocate for
environmental protections under the Obama administration. My answer is
simple: it is a tremendous relief. It has only been five weeks since
President Obama took office, but already the landscape has changed
dramatically.
Back in the long dark days of the Bush administration, NRDC kept what we
called the Bush Record. It was a compendium of the many Bush policies that
undermined or completely eradicated our nation's environmental safeguards.
We posted it online because it had to be updated so often.
Thankfully those days are over. The decisions coming out of Washington now
are actually strengthening America's protections for the air, water, and
atmosphere that we rely on.
Of course, there will be challenges ahead. Government agencies will make
decisions NRDC doesn't agree with, and Congress will still require
vigilant watchdogs. But the Obama administration has already taken several
bold and affirmative steps to protect public health and the environment,
and I think they deserve to be trumpeted. Here is the beginning of what I
hope will be a very long list:
* January 26, 2009: President Obama directs the EPA to reconsider the
agency's decision to deny California's strong limits on global warming
pollution from cars, and he calls on the Department of Transportation to
raise national fuel efficiency standards.
* February 4, 2009: More than 100,000 acres of Utah wilderness win
protection from oil and gas drilling after the Department of Interior
announced that it will cancel 77 leases issued under the Bush
administration.
* February 5, 2009: President Obama signs a presidential memorandum
requesting that the Department of Energy set new efficiency standards for
common household appliances. This will save in 30 years the amount of
energy produced by all the coal-fired power plants in America over a
two-year period.
* February 6, 2009: The EPA announces it will reconsider its decision to
deny California permission to set standards controlling greenhouse gases
from motor vehicles.
* February 6, 2009: On instruction from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson,
the Solicitor General asks the Supreme Court to drop the Bush
administration's desperate appeal to resurrect EPA's illegal and harmful
power plant mercury rule.
* February 10, 2009: Department of Interior Secretary Salazar announces
that he is going to make a thorough review of the five-year Outer
Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing program that was announced in the
final days of the Bush administration.
* February 10, 2009: Administrator Jackson grants a petition by NRDC to
reconsider and "stay" for three months a harmful midnight air pollution
rule adopted by the Bush administration in mid-January 2009 that would
allow dirty industries to release more pollution.
* February 13, 2009: Congress came to an agreement on an economic stimulus
package that includes bold investments for renewable power and energy
efficiency, including weatherization programs that will save consumers
billions while creating up to 90,000 jobs. Repairing our nation's outdated
and corroded water and waste systems will also create more than 200,000
jobs and improve the safety of our beaches, streams, and drinking water.
* February 17, 2009: EPA Administrator Jackson grants a petition by NRDC,
Sierra Club and EDF to reconsider a disputed memo signed by Administrator
Johnson in December 2008 that refused to regulate carbon dioxide from new
coal-fired power plants. She announced that EPA would convene a public
process to review this memo, in what was widely seen as the first step to
reversing the Bush policy.
* February 20, 2009: The Obama administration puts its support behind an
international, legally binding treaty to reduce global mercury pollution.
This position--a dramatic change for the stonewalling of the Bush
years--influences policy reversals from other nations including China and
India. Now more than 140 countries commit to regulating this dangerous
neurotoxin.
* February 24, 2009: In his first State of the Union address, Obama calls
on Congress to pass legislation to cap global warming pollution and drive
expansion of renewable energy. He also pledges $15 billion a year to
invest in solar, wind, biofuels, and more efficient vehicles, and to put
American to work making our homes and buildings more energy efficient.
* February 25, 2009: Thousands of acres in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado
will be protected from harmful oil shale research and development after
Department of Interior Secretary Salazar announces that he will reverse
course on the Bush administration's leasing program.
* February 26, 2009: The Obama administration releases a federal budget
that is the first in history to make critical investments in our clean
energy future and tackle global warming head on. It includes revenue from
a cap and invest program to limit global warming pollution, which is
forecast to generate $150 billion over 10 years starting in 2012.
This is an impressive list, but it is only the beginning. President Obama
initial decisions show that he meant what he said on the campaign trail.
He has a bold, ambitious vision to move American to a new clean energy
future, and he has a powerful sense that the safeguards protecting our
health and environment must be strengthened. But most important, he has
the conviction to put those beliefs into action.
For more information visit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frances-beinecke/off-to-a-green-start-a-ro_b_171108.htm
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