Kerry Earth Day Event, April 2004
By Erika McDonald

Listen to Kerry's speech

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry chose one of the most polluted cities in the country for the site of his earth day campaign speech. About 1,000 gathered at the University of Houston campus for Kerry’s address; the focus was the economics of environmentalism.

Standing before a banner that read, “A clean environment equals a strong economy,” Kerry challenged the dominant framework, which pits business interests against environmentalists, by arguing that sustainable development and responsible energy policies make economic sense. Kerry said millions of jobs could be created by expanding development of renewable energy technology like wind and solar power, and biomass. He also cited the health care costs associated with increased exposure to environmental health hazards causing increases in respiratory illness and heart disease across the nation. Referring frequently to the war in Iraq, Kerry insisted that federalizing a commitment to renewable energy would make America safer by reducing the country’s need for foreign sources of oil.

“There is no single issue more connected to the environment, and that is the issue of war and peace,” he said. “I guarantee, when I am president, not one more American soldier will be held hostage to America’s addiction to oil.” Kerry pledged, if elected, he would require 20 percent of the country’s energy to come from renewable sources.

Kerry delivered his strongest statements on the war in Iraq to date, saying the president “took us to war because he wanted to, not because he had to.” He also attacked the Bush administration over its environmental policies. Kerry accused Bush of endangering public health by rewriting portions of the federal Clean Water Act. By changing the definition of which wetlands are federally protected, Bush effectively removed millions of acres from the jurisdiction of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Bush also directed the Environmental Protection Agency to raise the maximum allowable levels of arsenic in Americans’ drinking water.

Kerry was perhaps most critical of Bush’s “Clear Skies” initiative, which has dismantled the Clean Air Act of 1970. Bush rolled back key protections under the federal law including new source performance standards. The new rule amounted to a federal grandfathering of the nation’s oldest, dirtiest refineries. The EPA was forced to drop clean air lawsuits on dozens of plants it had been investigating for years.

Kerry also criticized Bush for mismanaging the federal Superfund program that pays to clean up toxic sites across the country. By removing the polluter-pays element, the president shifted the burden of remediation, frequently in the millions, to American taxpayers. With funding dwindling, the program’s capacity has been cut in half with an average of 40 cleanups per year, compared to 76 during the previous administration. Kerry said, if elected, he would reauthorize funding for the Superfund program.

As a result of the these bad policies, Kerry said that, for the first time since the world began to celebrate earth day in 1970, an administration had left the planet in worse shape then when it took office. “We do not inherit Earth from the generation before us, we borrow it from the one after us and we must restore our relationship to (the Earth) and live up to our responsibilities,” he said.

Though the crowd was generally enthusiastic, some environmentalists were skeptical about what Kerry didn’t say. Notably absent from his address was any mention of federal mercury regulations. Texas leads the nation in mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants; mercury is a heavy metal linked to neurological and nervous system damage in children. Under a Bush directive, the EPA removed mercury from its toxic substances list, scrapping a plan three years in the making, in favor of Bush’s cap-and-trade plan, which allows the heaviest polluting plants to buy credits from cleaner companies rather than clean up their own plants. Executive director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition, Karen Hadden said she was disappointed Kerry did not address mercury.Texas leads the nation in emissions of mercury, a heavy metal linked to developmental and neurological disorders in young children.

“We would have liked to have seen him mention it specifically,” she said. Some were also surprised Kerry failed to address global warming.

In addition to warm introductions from Houston city council member Carol Alvarado, Local US Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and physician Martin Lorin, Kerry was endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, who rank elected officials based on their voting records on environmental issues. Kerry received, a 92 percent approval rating form the lobby group, the highest mark in the Senate. Still, some environmentalists wonder whether “stronger than Bush” will be strong enough when it comes to the nation’s most pressing environmental concerns.

Public Citizen Texas executive director, Tom “Smitty” Smith compared Kerry’s record in the house to a supporting player on a basketball team. “He’s like the player who passes the ball to another teammate, not the one who makes slam dunks,” he said. “So, he was voting the right way, but the bills he supported weren’t being voted through,” he said.

The Houston earth day rally raised $2.1 million for Kerry presidential bid.