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before the Committee on Finance
01/28/1999| Oral Statement of Carol M. Browner, Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before the Committee on Finance U.S. Senate January 28, 1999 Thank you Mr. Chairman, and other members of the Committee, for this opportunity to testify on an important aspect of EPA's work -- our international environmental programs, and the role we play in the interface between trade and the environment. I know there are many opinions about the need for incorporating environmental protections in upcoming trade agreements. But let me say that it is the Clinton Administration's great hope that we work together for a common approach and develop a new consensus on this important issue. Since this nation passed our major environmental laws more than 25 years ago, we've made great progress. Our water is cleaner, our air healthier, our land safer. But the job is not done. Millions of Americans still live in areas that do not meet EPA's standards for a healthy environment. A host of new global challenges threaten the strides we've made. I'm talking about the pollution that is leading to climate change, air and water pollution that crosses our borders, dangerous pesticides on imported food, and the transport of harmful persistent chemicals such as DDT and chlordane, which are banned here, but used abroad. Let's face it, we live in an increasingly global economy, and that presents enormous opportunities, as well as enormous challenges, enormous problems. Continuing our great progress on protecting the health and environment of Americans hinges on two strategies: strong U.S. international environmental programs and open trade that protects our air, water, and land. At EPA, our international programs are fostering greater cooperation, more technical assistance, more trade in environmental technologies to help other countries build the capacity to achieve strong environmental protections. And we are helping them achieve these protections using good science and in the most cost-effective, common-sense manner. But we must also -- as the President said in his State of the Union -- put a "human face on the global economy" and work for trade that protects workers and the environment. This administration has proven time and time again that the environment and the economy go hand in hand. Today, we have some of the strongest environmental protections in the world, and also one of the strongest economies. Indeed, in the long run, we cannot have a prosperous economy without a healthy environment, and vice versa. If we keep a few principles in mind, we can have robust trade and tough environmental and public health protections. For one, EPA must continue its work to promote the export of environmental technologies -- as we have been doing through our training and technical assistance programs, and our support of the upward international harmonization of environmental standards. The Department of Commerce has estimated that the world market in environmental technology is worth $400 billion, and expected to reach $600 billion in the next ten years. Continuing to carve out an American niche in this market is absolutely essential to our national competitiveness. We must also ensure that when American tax dollars are invested abroad -- through projects supported by the Export-Import Bank and the multilateral development banks -- we must invest in environmentally sound, environmentally sustainable projects. That way markets for U.S. goods will be there not just today, but also tomorrow. We must ensure that existing and future trade agreements and investments are negotiated and administered in the full light of day, with full and meaningful public participation. These agreements and investments must permit sovereign nations to set tough environmental and public health standards -- and that nations work together to harmonize these standards upward. And to protect the health of all American citizens, we must retain our right to deny entry of products that don't meet our national environmental and health standards. Only then can we continue our environmental progress in this nation -- and protect the competitiveness of U.S. companies from lax or non-existent environmental controls in other countries. As the President said, we must ensure that "...spirited economic competition among nations never becomes a race to the bottom in environmental protections... we should level up, not down." This coming November, we will be holding the first WTO ministerial meeting on American soil. The Clinton Administration will be calling for a trading system that is even more protective of health, the environment, and American competitiveness. So let us work together for a common goal -- a continuation of the great progress we have made in protecting our nation's air, water, land -- our health and our economy -- today and far into the 21st Century. Thank you. |
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