Harvey Blatt on Improving America's Environmental Policy

1. Initiate a crash program for alternative energy, particularly wind and solar power, as Germany has done with wind power. Wind resources are enormous in the Great Plains and off the eastern and western coasts. And there have been significant breakthroughs in the past few years in increasing the efficiency of solar panels and I have no doubt that increased funding would help bring these on line sooner. Tax credits for installers and users of wind and solar power should be made permanent, not subject to reconsideration by Congress every year or two.
2. Nuclear power has no future in the United States, whether on not President Bush offers to fund half the construction costs. Lawsuits by environmental groups and others will keep proposals for new nuclear power plants tied up in the courts for untold years. Regardless of new safety procedures that may be built in to proposed new nuclear plants, humans are fallible creatures and a nuclear disaster will always be a possibility, to say nothing of the problem of increasing amounts of eternally-dangerous radioactive waste. There should be no extensions of licenses to operate old nuclear plants. Continuing to use old plants is asking for trouble
3. Mileage requirements for cars need to be upgraded and I have no doubt industry can comply. I recall the Automobile Manufacturers Association and Lee Iacocca (then vice-president of Ford) 45 years ago predicting that passage of the Clean Air Act would shut down the auto industry and asking "How much clean air do we need?" Foreign manufacturers are able to meet any likely more stringent requirements America may establish so there is no doubt Ford, GM, and Daimler-Chrysler can do so as well. The success of Toyota and Honda in the U. S. has resulted from both the quality of their cars and the better gas mileage they get. There should be a federal purchase tax of, say, $1,000 for every mile under 25 mpg that a new car gets in CITY driving, based on testing by an independent group such as Consumers Union. The federal tax on gasoline should be raised from its present 18.4 cents per gallon to 50 cents per gallon to discourage consumption. Europeans, who have lower incomes than Americans, have been paying $4-5 or more for a gallon of gas for many years, so there is no doubt Americans can do so as well. Tax breaks for fossil fuel companies should be eliminated.
4. There should be a ban on waste disposal in waterways and on underground injection of liquid wastes, which has already resulted in aquifer pollution in half the states. It is not possible to know the details of underground geology well enough to be sure such contamination will not happen. Incineration with appropriate smokestack controls is the way to go, regardless of the increased costs.
5. Agricultural subsidies should be eliminated, as they benefit mainly the wealthy landowners. A farmer should be defined as a person who actually farms, not as a person or group that owns farmland. Conservation opportunities should be expanded with increased funding to preserve irreplaceable prime farmland.
6. There should be federal funding of elections, say, X dollars for candidates for the House, 2X for senate candidates, and 5X for presidential candidates. The amount of 5X should not exceed $1 billion dollars in today's currency. No contributions by individuals, groups, business concerns, or labor unions should be permitted. This might help get the power of money out of the electoral process."