ENVIRONMENT: Position Paper - 10/8/92 [Charles Fishman, editor] Please Distribute 10/08/92 THE ESSENTIAL CLINTON: ENVIRONMENT "I want to retrain defense industry technicians for work in critical civilian fields such as biotechnology, renewable energy, and environmental cleanup." THE VISION --------------------------- "We need to do a better job of investing our resources in research and development to come up with new ideas to solve problems, and then taking those ideas and turning them into jobs here in America. The new movement to preserve our environment while promoting economic growth makes this possible." "One of the big ideas you all have to decide whether you believe in or not . . . is whether you think in order to help the environment you've got to hurt the economy, and vice versa." "I believe that promoting environmental protection will be one of the great economic opportunities of the next 10 years. It can create unbelievable numbers of jobs. THE PLAN --------------------------- "My plan is a bold plan. . . . It offers twenty billion dollars a year in hard federal dollars every year for the next four years, to build an economy for the twenty-first century, to invest in new roads and bridges and streets and rail systems, to develop high-speed rail and a national fiber optic network, to develop new environmental technologies to clean our waters and our air, and to recycle more of our solid wastes. In short, to do those things which we are not doing today." SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS --------------------------- Arkansas has been ranked in the top ten states for efforts in wetlands protection and energy research and is one of only a few states meeting all federal standards under the Clean Air Act. In 1988, Arkansas developed some of the most progressive water quality standards in the nation. These regulations prevent point source pollution in the highest quality waters of the state--those streams, rivers, and lakes that have high recreational, scenic, and habitat values. One hundred percent of Arkansas' lakes have been determined to be fishable and swimmable. Governor Clinton helped create the Plant the Future Program, which aims to plant an additional 10 million trees each year, for 10 years, and to establish a "no net loss" policy for forest land. Bill Clinton helped establish a hazardous waste program, among the first approved by the EPA and later used as a model by the National Governor's Association. In 1985, Governor Clinton received the President's Public Service Award from the Nature Conservancy for "being a creative leader over the last six years in Arkansas land preservation work." THE BOTTOM LINE --------------------------- [George Bush] "won't take the lead in protecting the environment and creating new jobs in environmental technology. But I will. You know what else? He doesn't have Al Gore and I do." ENDORSEMENT: --------------------------- National Sierra Club President, Anthony Ruckel [in rejecting the Bush-Quayle ticket and throwing the Sierra Club's support behind Clinton-Gore, 9/4/92]: "We cannot trust George Bush. He has broken every promise."