Bill Delahunt: “I join today with a dozen national environmental organizations in opposing legislation rushed to the House floor to gut…”

“I join today with a dozen national environmental organizations in opposing legislation rushed to the House floor to gut the National Environmental Policy Act, as well as three other shopworn legislative assaults on conservation statutes. In recent months, the Republican congressional leadership has packaged groups of bills--often proposals rejected in the past--for congressional votes to highlight a partisan rhetorical theme. This week's emphasis is on energy policy, bringing a battery of four measures before the House. These measures include provisions to open the Arctic National Refuge for energy exploration and to provide liability protection for groundwater contaminants. None of the bills will reach the Senate; none will become law. While none of these proposals will become law, they reflect the congressional leadership's obsession with private energy speculators over the public interest. In recent years the Congress has rubber-stamped Bush Administration proposals to defer stewardship of public lands to mining, grazing and timber interests. Today, the Leadership is offering an even bigger prize, the gutting of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The 'Renewable Energy Project Siting Improving Act' is designed to weaken one of the bedrock federal environmental protection statutes, ostensibly to 'promote' renewable energy.”