The Environment

By Jane Harman

Residents of California's 36th District live along some of Southern California's most beautiful coastline. The Pacific Ocean and Santa Monica Bay offer a range of wonderful recreational activities and, as a resident of Venice Beach, Jane Harman enjoys biking and jogging along the bike path, talking with neighbors, and watching the waves and seabirds.

Protecting this environment is important to her and her constituents. Having grown up in West Los Angeles, Harman remembers all too well the smog alerts and hearing the regular reports of beach closures. Responsible stewardship over the environment is a lesson she learned at an early age and which she takes seriously as a Member of Congress.

Over the last several decades, real progress has been made restoring clean air and water. Regrettably, the Bush Administration and its allies in Congress are rolling back many hard-fought protections. A good example is the energy bill, which Harman opposed and which gives billions of dollars in tax breaks to polluting industries and shields polluters like MTBE manufacturers from lawsuits.

Jane Harman supports an energy policy that permanently protects the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the California coastline from oil and gas drilling. As important are policies that encourage development and use of alternative sources of energy, including hydrogen, solar, fuel cells and wind. In fact, the Harman home in Venice has solar cells and reverse metering on the roof. Harman has hosted a number of public forums highlighting the renewable energy technologies developed in the 36th District, including fuel cells, solar panels, LEDs and hybrid engines.

Bush Administration policies also threaten the solitude and pristine beauty of such premier parks like Yellowstone, the last remaining rain forests in Alaska, roadless areas in our national forests, and the Red Rock wilderness of Utah. This Administration has also eased clean air requirements for old polluting power plans, weakened the standard for arsenic in drinking water, and allowed valuable wetlands to be drained and developed.

Harman has opposed all of these anti-environmental policies. She has worked to fight these proposals and to support balanced policies that ensure the protection of our environment.

Harman has supported expansion of wilderness areas and scenic rivers in California; and worked to restore the fragile Ballona Creek wetlands, the last remaining wetland in Los Angeles County, securing federal funds to replace the tide gates that ensure the flow of saltwater into them. She has secured funds to clean Ballona Creek and to create a recreational "Park to Playa" bike path that will allow residents to enjoy biking from the beach to Ken Hahn Regional Park and create a link from downtown to the coast.

Harman has also ensured federal support for the removal of lead-contaminated soil at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center, and aided residents during the cleanup of DDT contamination at two Superfund sites in the South Bay.

She has also supported legislation to:

Increase automotive fuel economy standards (also called CAFÉ standards) Amend the Farm Bill to increase incentives to farmers to protect wetlands, clean water and increase open space. Oppose weakening the standards for arsenic in drinking water. Require electric utilities to educe emissions Permanently protect roadless areas in national forests. Jane Harman's environmental record has earned her the endorsement of the Sierra Club and the California League of Conservation Voters.