On the recordApril 22, 2010
Madam President, April 22 is Earth Day. It has been 40 years since then-Senator Gaylord Nelson first advocated setting aside a national day to focus on our environment. We have learned a lot in those 40 years. What we have learned is, it is very rewarding to protect and defend our environment. What we have learned is, when we do that, and we do it in the right way, we create millions of jobs and an economy that is very prosperous. One very clear example of that is, take my California coastline. It is an economic driver. It is beautiful. It is an economic driver because people want to see it in all of its beauty. They want to enjoy its beauty. They spend a lot of dollars on tourism to come and visit my coast. They go to the restaurants. They go to the stores. That is why we have always argued against our colleagues who want to go and destroy--potentially destroy--that magnificent coastline, which is a gift from God, in my humble view. It is interesting because the first Earth Day was inspired by a horrible oilspill that hit Santa Barbara, and the whole country saw the devastation, what happened to the wildlife, what happened to the ocean, what happened to the people there.
