Volume 145, No. 165 covering the 1st Session of the 106th Congress (1999 - 2000) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SECOND GENERATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT ACT” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E2464 on Nov. 19, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SECOND GENERATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT ACT
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HON. JAMES C. GREENWOOD
of pennsylvania
in the house of representatives
Thursday, November 18, 1999
Mr. GREENWOOD. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing, along with my colleagues, Mr. Dooley, Mr. Boehlert and Ms. Tauscher, the ``Second Generation of Environmental Improvement Act of 1999.'' This bipartisan bill has two related purposes--to improve the information practices of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to encourage the EPA to experiment with more innovative approaches to protect the environment.
Our overall goal is to move our nation toward a performance-based system of environmental protection--a system that will do a better job of protecting the environment, while providing greater flexibility to companies and states to determine how to meet tough, clear environmental standards. Our watchword in writing this bill has been to provide greater flexibility in return for greater accountability.
In moving in this direction, we are following the recommendations of a variety of recent reports, including the Enterprise for the Environment, headed up by former EPA Administrator Bill Ruckelshaus; the President's Council on Sustainable Development, the Aspen Institute and the National Academy of Public Administration. We need to allow and encourage more experimentation to see if innovative approaches to regulation will produce the desired results. Our incremental bill will do just that.
Mr. Speaker, we are introducing this bill today to spark discussion on this approach to environmental policy, which we think should be at the heart of moderate environmental reform. But we still have much work to do. The bill still needs both technical and substantive work, and we do not intend to move it forward in its current form. Rather, we plan to introduce a refined version early in the next session after more meetings with experts on all sides of the environmental debate. But we think the bill in its current form does indicate the basic shape and principles of the bill that we will move forward.
This bill should be of interest to anyone who wants to ensure that we will continue to work to make our environmental protection system as effective and efficient as possible. We encourage anyone interested to comment on this version of the bill, so that we can take those concerns into consideration as we work on the version we will introduce next session.
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