Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - January 25, 2005)

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By Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. CARPER, Mr. VOINOVICH, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. AKAKA, and Mr. LIEBERMAN):

S. 21. A bill to provide for homeland security grant coordination and simplification, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President I rise with my good friend Senator CARPER to offer the Homeland Security Grant Enhancement Act in order to streamline and strengthen the way we help our States, communities, and first responders protect our homeland.

Three years ago, the Senate spent nearly three months on the Homeland Security Act, yet the law contains virtually no guidance on how the Department is to assist State and local governments with their homeland security needs. In fact, the 187-page Homeland Security Act mentions the issue of grants to first responders in but a single paragraph. The decisions on how Federal dollars should be spent or how much money should be allocated to whom were left for another day. That day has come.

During the 108th Congress, Senator CARPER and I introduced similar legislation to more than double the proportion of homeland Security funding distributed based on risk, while also helping all States achieve a baseline level of preparedness and an ability to respond. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held three hearings at which first responders, State and local officials, and Secretary Ridge all testified that the grant distribution system needs fixing. The 9/11 Commission also urged that the system be changed. It is therefore time for Congress to finally address this critical issue.

The bill that we introduce today is identical to legislation that passed the Senate by voice-vote as an amendment to the Intelligence reform bill at the end of the last Congress.

That measure was supported by Senators from big States--like Michigan and Ohio--and small States like Maine, Delaware and Connecticut. The wide breadth of support in the Senate is indicative of the fact that this bill takes a balanced approach to homeland security funding.

It recognizes that threat-based funding is a critical part of homeland security funding. It also recognizes that first responders in every State and territory stand at the front lines of securing the homeland.

This legislation will also coordinate government-wide homeland security funding by promoting one-stop-shopping for homeland security funding opportunities. It would establish an information clearinghouse to assist first responders and State and local governments in accessing homeland security grant information and other resources within the new department. This clearinghouse will improve access to homeland security grant information, coordinate technical assistance for vulnerability and threat assessments, provide information regarding homeland security best practices, and compile information regarding homeland security equipment purchased with Federal funds.

Establishment of these programs will mean first responders can spend more time training to save lives and less-time filling out paper work. The inflexible structure of past homeland security funding, along with shifting federal requirements and increasing amounts of paperwork, poses a number of challenges to State and local governments as they attempt to provide these funds to first responders.

The legislation would provide greater flexibility in the use of those unspent funds. It would give the Department of Homeland Security flexibility to allow States, via a wavier from the Secretary, to use funds from one category, such as training, for another purpose, such as purchasing equipment.

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will act promptly to mark-up and report this important measure to establish a streamlined, efficient, and fair method for homeland security funds to get into the hands of first responders.

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to join Senator JEFFORDS and Senator LIEBERMAN in introducing the Clean Power Act of 2005. This bill closes the loophole that has allowed the dirtiest, most polluting power plants in the Nation to escape significant pollution controls for more than 30 years.

Maine is one of the most beautiful and pristine States in the Nation. It is also one of the most environmentally responsible States in the Nation. Maine has fewer emissions of the pollutants that cause smog and acid rain than all but a handful of States. It also has one of the lowest emissions of carbon dioxide nationwide.

Unfortunately, despite the collective environmental commitment of both its citizens and industries, Maine still suffers from air pollution. Every freshwater lake, river, and stream in Maine is subject to a State mercury advisory that warns pregnant women and young children to limit consumption of fish caught in those waters. Even Acadia National Park, one of our most beautiful national parks, experiences days in which visibility is obscured by smog.

Where does all this pollution come from? A large part of it comes from a relatively small number of mostly coal-fired powerplants that exploit loopholes to escape the provisions of the Clean Air Act. Coal-fired powerplants are the single largest source of air pollution, mercury contamination, and greenhouse gas emissions in the Nation. A single coal-fired powerplant can emit more of the pollutants that cause smog and acid rain than all of the cars, factories, and businesses in Maine combined.

As the easternmost State in the Nation, Maine is downwind of almost all powerplants in the United States. Many of the pollutants emitted by these powerplants--mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide--end up in or over Maine. Airborne mercury falls into our lakes and streams, contaminating freshwater fish and threatening our people's health. Carbon dioxide is causing climate change that threatens to alter Maine's delicate ecological balance. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides come to Maine in the form of acid rain and smog that damage the health of our people and the health of our environment.

A single powerplant can emit nearly a ton of mercury in a single year. That's equivalent to incinerating over one million mercury thermometers and is enough to contaminate millions of acres of freshwater lakes. In contrast, Maine has zero powerplant emissions of mercury. This bill would reduce mercury emissions from powerplants by 90 percent.

Powerplants are also one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. In fact, powerplants account for 40 percent of our carbon dioxide emissions, which scientists believe are the primary cause of man-made global warming.

I recently had the opportunity to view firsthand some of the dramatic impacts of global warming. In August, I traveled with Senator MCCAIN and several other Senators to the northernmost community in the world. We visited Ny-Alesund on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. Located at 79 «N, Ny-Alesund lies well north of the Arctic Circle and is much closer to the North Pole than to Oslo, the country's capital. It has even served as a starting point for several polar expeditions.

Scientists tell us that the global climate is changing more rapidly than at any time since the beginning of civilization. They further state that the region of the globe changing most rapidly is the Arctic. The changes are remarkable and disturbing.

In the last 30 years, the Arctic has lost sea-ice cover over an area 10 times as large as the State of Maine. In the summer, the change is even more dramatic, with twice as much ice loss. The ice that remains is as much as 40% thinner than it was just a few decades ago. In addition to disappearing sea-ice, Arctic glaciers are also rapidly retreating. In Ny-Alesund, Senator MCCAIN and I witnessed massive blocks of ice falling off glaciers that had already retreated well back from the shores where they once rested.

The Clean Power Act takes an important step in addressing global warming by reducing powerplant emissions of carbon dioxide to 2000 levels by the year 2010. Although doing so will not solve the problem of global warming, it is an important first step. In light of the rapid warming in the Arctic and the significance that this warming portends for the rest of the planet, reducing carbon dioxide emissions is a step that we can no longer afford to put off.

I am pleased that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will be considering clean air legislation in the 109th Congress. The Jeffords-Collins-Lieberman bill does more to reduce smog, acid rain, mercury pollution, and global warming than any other bill. Our bill provides more public health and environmental benefits than any other serious proposal, and it provides those benefits sooner.

I believe it is time to stop acid rain, free our lakes from mercury pollution, reduce global warming, and eliminate the smog that drifts in to obscure Maine skies and jeopardize our health. I look forward to working with the administration and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to provide cleaner air.

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