Green Day For Bush And Kerry
President Bush, trying to shore up his environmental record against attacks by Democratic rival John Kerry, announced a new wetlands initiative during a brief Earth Day visit to Maine.
The president called for restoring or protecting as many as 3 million acres of wetlands over the next five years.
"Instead of just limiting our losses, we will expand the wetlands of America," Mr. Bush said Thursday after touring a salt marsh accompanied by his mother, Barbara, on an overcast day.
He also was announcing new figures Thursday from the Agriculture Department that he says show that for the first time in the nation's history the annual net loss of wetlands on farmland has been reversed.
"Earth Day has become a great tradition in our country," Mr. Bush said. "It reminds us that we can't take the natural wonders for granted, that's what it says to me."
A few hundred protestors nearby denounced his policies, ridiculing his approach to the environment as amounting to "No tree left behind," reports CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.
Kerry was using the president's home turf of Houston as a backdrop to argue that the administration has rolled back important clean air and water regulations. He says the president has repeatedly sided with utilities and corporate polluters over the health and quality of life of the American people.
"In three short years, one man and one administration have put the breaks on 30 years of environmental progress," Kerry said Thursday.
Kerry's visit to Houston culminates three days of slamming the incumbent's environmental record.
The government has estimated that there are more than 250 million acres of wetlands in the United States, more than half of those in Alaska. It has said that the annual net loss of wetlands has dropped to less than 58,000 acres, down from more than 100,000 acres lost yearly until recently.
Mr. Bush is calling for six federal agencies that oversee natural resources to restore and create at least 1 million acres of wetlands, improve 1 million acres and protect 1 million acres over the next five years. He says the goal can be met through his 2005 budget request of Congress for $4.4 billion in conservation programs, including $349 million for two wetlands programs.
In December, Mr. Bush abandoned a plan that could have further reduced wetlands protections by scaling back the Clean Water Act's coverage of isolated ponds and streams, many of them dry for part of the year.
His administration also has said that projects no longer have to restore wetlands acre-for-acre if the "no net loss" goal is met for each of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 38 U.S. districts, which are formed by watersheds and not state boundaries.
Analysts say the environment, like many other issues such as education or crime, is rarely a prime factor for most voters. In an election dominated by the economy and the war in Iraq, the percentage of people who list the environment as their top political concern is in single digits.
But as Kerry's extended swing through some of the nation's environmental hotspots shows – Tuesday in Florida, Wednesday in Louisiana and Thursday in smoggy Houston – the environment can make a difference in key states, pushing swing voters to the other side of the ballot.
Here's a breakdown of where the candidates stand on some major environmental issues:
That system has been applied with great success to sulfur dioxide, a component of acid rain. Mr. Bush said using the technique for other pollutants would reduce them 70 percent by 2018 and save $1 billion in compliance costs.
Clear Skies legislation has stalled in Congress, so the administration has proposed making many of the changes with regulations, which don't need congressional approval.
Kerry and many environmentalists say Clear Skies is flawed and actually works to the utilities' benefit by postponing pollution cuts far too long. One of the most controversial provisions would remove permit requirements that now limit industries' ability to boost emissions.
Kerry said Clear Skies would increase pollution by 21 million tons a year over the simple enforcement of existing law. By rejecting a more protective option that environmental officials proposed, Kerry said, the Bush plan would result in 100,000 additional premature deaths over a decade and a half.
He also wants to spend $1.2 billion for research into hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles, homes and businesses. All of the initiatives are meant to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil, Mr. Bush said.
Kerry also said he wants to wean the nation off foreign oil, but he said the country ''can't drill its way to independence.'' Instead, he would create a renewable energy trust fund to speed up the adoption of cleaner technology and energy efficiency.
Kerry also favors hydrogen research, but in the meantime he wants to require more fuel-efficient gasoline-powered cars in the next decade. And although he's for more use of natural gas because it's the cleanest fossil fuel, he's against drilling in the Arctic refuge.
Instead, Mr. Bush has earmarked $4.4 billion for climate change efforts, including $1.75 billion for research and $500 million in energy-efficiency tax incentives.
Kerry accuses the president of abandoning the U.S. leadership on global warming and other worldwide environmental concerns. He has advocated new talks to improve the climate treaty, but said the United States can't keep postponing action on global warming.