TOM HARKIN: ON ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT As President, Tom Harkin would put environmental protection and energy independence on our national security agenda. Air and water pollution, toxic waste and global warming, if unchecked, could damage our society as much as any external enemy, short of nuclear war. Our dependence on oil has already led us into war in the Persian Gulf and drained our national treasury. George Bush's answer is to open up our national preserves to drill more oil, not to invest in energy efficient technologies. The Bush administration wants to study global warming more, resisting all international efforts to find solutions. So much for the environmental President. Tom Harkin would be the environmental president in word and deed. The key goal of a Harkin administration will be sustainability. That means ending pollution, resource depletion, and overpopulation, the three gret threats to the health of our citizens and the security of our nation. Tom Harkin also knows that investing in our environment will strengthen our economy and create new jobs and substantial export markets. A national policy of environmental investment could create more than 150,000 secure jobs over the next decade. ENERGY By 2015, even if we hold consumption at current rates, we will have to import more than three-quarters of our oil if we stay on the Bush drill and consume path. The firsit priority of a Harkin environmental agenda is to put our nation on the path toward a clean, sustainable energy future. To accomplish this goal we must: * INCREASE OUR USE OF NATURAL GAS - In the short term, Tom Harkin would reduce our dependence on imported oil and reduce air pollution by burning more domestically-produced natural gas. The United States has 35 years of likely natural gas reserves remaining, compared to only 15 years of likely oil reserves. Motor vehicles powered by natural gas produce much less smog and 15 percent less global warming greenhouse gases than gasoline. * IMPROVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY - Increased energy efficiency is one path to reducing our dependence on oil and creating new jobs. Tom Harkin would work with the auto industry to develop cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles, and supports legislation to increase CAFE standards. He would invest in more energy efficient homes, schools, offices, and factories. A Harkin administration would support market incentives for consumers to purchase clean, fuel efficient cars, homes and appliances. * SOLAR HYDROGEN AND FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES - For a clean, sustainable energy future, Tom Harkin would expand research and development of new technologies. Solar hydrogen generates no pollution, can be produced entirely in the U.S., and would be inexhaustible, needing only sunligm and water to provide energy for our future. Hydrogen is the fuel of choice on the Space ShLlttle, with hydrogen powered fuel cells providing electricity and water for our astronauts. A Harkin administration would work to preserve our natural resources, including our ancient forests, tropical rain forests, wetlands, and nature's rich biodiversity. Tom Harkin believes we must develop plans to preserve our natural resources and stop pollution, while minimizing the impact on workers and private landowners. * WETLANDS - Candidate Bush campaigned on the promise of "no net loss" of our nation's wetlands. President Bush then changed the definition and removed protection for nearly three quarters of the 100 million acres of wetlands now remaining in the U.S. This must stop. We must preserve our wetlands without undue burden on private property owners. * ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE - George Bush's answer to the energy crisis is opening ANWR to oil rigs, even though at current U.S. consumption rates ANWR would provide only 200 days supply of oil. Tom Harkin would preserve the coastal plain of ANWR and make it a wilderness area. * PROTECTING ENDANGERED SPECIES - Nearly 7,500 plant and animal species become extinct each year. Tom Harkin wants to preserve those species. He supports reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act to protect plants and animals on the verge of extinction. Tom Harkin has also worked to preserve our national forests and prevent damaging road building and logging. * GLOBAL WARMING - Scientists agree that carbon dioxide content is increasing in the earth's atmcsphere as a result of human pollution, and that carbon dioxide along with methane and other "greenhouse" gases warm the earth by trapping the infrared radiation. While we cannot be sure of it's crtcome, we can do much today to reduce the likelihood of global warming. A Harkin administration ould take a leadership role in setting global standards for reducing carbon dioxide, inc!uding cutting U.S. ernrssions by a fifth over the next 15 years. * POLLUTION - In addition to curbing greenhouse gases, the Harkin administration will move vigorously to reduce air, soil, and water pollution. Provisions of the Clean Air Act, as amended, to reduce acid rain, urban smog, carbon monoxide, and other toxic air pollution will be strictly enforced. Tom Harkin will work with Congress to improve water quality, to reduce solid waste through recycling, composting and source reduction, and to reduce loss of our nation's rich top soil. * POPULATION - The earth's population doubled from 190 to 1987, and is expected to reach 6 billion by the end of the century. This growth will further deplete our resources and further burden our environment. Tom Harkin kr.ws that a global environment program must include a program to slow population growth.