Trent Lott: “Today marks the 29th annual Earth Day --a day to evaluate our environment--a day to celebrate. Along with all Americans…”

“Today marks the 29th annual Earth Day --a day to evaluate our environment--a day to celebrate. Along with all Americans, I too want to live in a clean environment, and like most Americans, I fully believe efforts are needed to ``protect the environment.'' However, I question how ``protecting the environment'' is defined and bureaucratically implemented, especially when it begins to truly hurt Americans. Mr. President, I hope my colleagues will look at each environmental policy--new and old--carefully, to make sure the benefits are both real and achievable. Congress should make sure the costs are tolerable and properly allocated, and Congress needs to ensure that the standards and time tables make sense. Most importantly, the Congress needs to make sure that the science is legitimate. There are some who advance an agenda under the guise of environmental concern. This is not only wrong, but harmful. There are some who do not provide accurate costs and who inflate benefits. This too is wrong. There are some who have no concern about those who will really be affected by the new policy. This is also very wrong--Congress should never lose sight of the constituents. Mr. President, the Senate needs to continue to ``protect the environment'' while ``protecting the people'' who live in that environment. The Senate must examine the costs inflicted upon our society, as it relates to the environmental protection, to make sure it is acceptable.”