Kerry Vows Business-Friendly Programs to Reduce Pollution

Dismissing “the same tired, old arguments” that environmentalism and commerce cannot coexist, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry said Tuesday that he would embark on a new era of pollution protections while simultaneously promoting business and industry.

Standing beside a haven for manatees and herons along Tampa Bay, Kerry told an audience of about 150 that President Bush had reversed three decades of environmental gains while relying on eco-friendly slogans that “would make George Orwell rise up in fear.”

The event was the first of several over three days in the South that will stress Kerry’s commitment to environmentalism -- a theme picked to coincide with Thursday’s Earth Day commemorations.

Kerry tried hard to use his setting to drive home his criticisms of Bush’s environmental policies. Spotting a dolphin off the pier at Tampa’s Ballast Point, he said: “There he is, over there. He says, ‘Help, help, help!’ ”

The Massachusetts senator said he heard in the calling of the gulls another message for Bush: “Why don’t you get off the stick and do something?”

Kerry said that as president, he would restore many Clinton administration initiatives Bush had reversed, including ones that would lead to greater preservation of open space.

He said he also would embark on new programs in four areas: improving the quality and health testing of public waters; reducing mercury and other harmful emissions from power plants; decreasing pollution runoff from farms, factories and residential neighborhoods; and increasing spending to form coastal preserves.

Kerry stressed that he would proceed deliberately, saying at least half a dozen times over 25 minutes that he would be “reasonable.” He went on at some length about how he supported oil drilling in most areas -- but not in ecological preserves.

“The same old, tired arguments keep coming at us,” Kerry said, “that if you want a strong economy you have to stop doing some of these things that they call extreme. I have always believed in reasonableness. And so do you.”

Bush’s campaign responded practically before Kerry was done speaking.

“John Kerry’s false attacks on the president’s strong environmental record are purely political and ignore the progress that has been made under President Bush,” campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said. “Our air is clearer and our water is cleaner than before the president took office.”

Joining Kerry at his event were Carol Browner, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency under Clinton, and Florida’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Bob Graham and Bill Nelson.

Kerry told his audience that the names of Bush’s key environmental proposals were underhanded -- the Clean Skies Initiative and the Healthy Forests Initiative would degrade the air and forests, he charged.

Kerry claimed that the Clear Skies Initiative actually would allow 21 million tons more pollution into the environment than if existing Clean Air Act guidelines were followed. The Kerry camp claimed that Bush’s plan would results in 100,000 more premature deaths compared with an alternate EPA plan.

Bush’s campaign called that charge false, saying the administration’s proposals to allow “efficient pollution control technologies” were little different than those proposed by Browner.

On power plant emissions, a report issued by the Kerry campaign says Bush seeks to cut emissions by 70% by 2018, compared with the 90% reduction by 2008 that the Clinton administration had targeted. This lowering of standards, the report says, came despite an EPA finding that one in six children could be at risk of developmental disorders because of mercury exposure in the womb.

Kerry cited several other Bush policies he said were hurting the environment: a refusal to ban the gasoline additive MTBE, which has polluted groundwater across the nation; a reduction of the cleanup of Superfund pollution sites by 40%; and a reduction in the money available to states to clean up polluted storm water.

As with the other charges, Bush’s campaign called the claims false or misleading, saying the president had included $210 million in his 2005 budget request for cleaning up abandoned industrial “brownfields.” The Bush aides said that was a 24% increase over the current spending.

Turning to his own program, Kerry pledged that he would:

* Work harder than Bush to enforce a 1990 law, the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act, that increased standards for measuring water pollution and warning the public about health threats. Kerry said he would spend the money to allow local governments to conduct the studies, but he did not give a cost.

* Create a “toxics task force” at the EPA to identify the sources of contaminants entering the food stream. He said he would insist that when toxics were identified, federal officials moved quickly to reduce them.

* Develop a program of incentives to encourage farmers, developers and others to reduce the amount of pollutants they release into streets and storm drains -- so-called “non-point” pollution that has been difficult for government to control.

As the campaign moved from Tampa to Miami for two evening fundraisers, Kerry was joined on his plane by Graham, Nelson and Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), Kerry’s last major challenger in the party’s presidential race. That put three potential choices for a running mate with Kerry on the short trip.