The environment was once an issue left to tree-huggers and extremists, but things are changing in today’s society. The environment has become an important issue across the board.
It is anticipated to become increasingly important in Texas because it is a high pollution state. Dallas is at risk for losing federal highway funding if there are no efforts made to clean up pollution says Rita Whillock, a corporate communications and public affairs professor. For this reason, candidates in the upcoming 2002 Texas elections have environmental issues on their agendas.
“Finally environmentalism is not something radical, but part of daily life,” said Whillock. She says that while the environment is not a “wedge issue” in most elections, its importance is increasing.
In the governor’s race, Republican candidate Rick Perry and Democratic candidate Tony Sanchez are both focused on keeping Texas clean.
Rick Perry’s environmental plans deal mainly with the water supply in Texas. Perry’s plan outlines four areas that would help meet Texans’ needs for clean, abundant water.
First, Perry proposes that new sources be created and the old ones need improvement. Second, he proposes better water conservation.
Perry also hopes to finance needed water projects through new sources and tools. Finally, Perry wants to set up safeguards to protect the water supply from sabotage. As part of his proposal, Perry introduced the idea of a large-scale plant to desalinate ocean water.
Sanchez focuses on the environment with 10 proposals for cleaner air. His proposals focus on making those who pollute pay and allowing citizens to have a voice.
He hopes to provide more open forums for citizens to voice their opinions. In addition, he says that fees for air emissions will not be discounted and the resulting money can be used to better enforce clean air laws.
Sanchez is working to develop a program that goes along with the “polluter pays” idea while establishing incentives for alternative fuels and low emission vehicles. He also plans to make an inventory of sources emitting greenhouse gases and attack them at the source in order to save federal highway funds.
Not only does Sanchez hope to increase resources to transmit energy, he hopes that by 2020 over 10 percent of Texas energy will be provided by renewable sources.
Republican Senate candidate John Cornyn takes a broader approach to environmentalism. Cornyn supports the president’s plan to appropriate $4.5 billion to deal with global climate change and will also work to approve $4.6 billion over the next five years in clean energy tax.
Cornyn supports a market-based plan introduced by President Bush to impose overall caps on greenhouse gas emissions. He wants to keep environmental policy in line with economic growth and hopes to provide evidence of results in the environmental clean up.
Ron Kirk, the Democratic candidate for Senate, breaks down his environmental platform into four categories: a national energy policy, support for clean air, cleaning up toxic waste sites and transportation.
Kirk’s energy policy focuses on improvements in overall environmental quality, air quality, affordable energy and economic prosperity.
More than 1,551 Superfund toxic waste sites exist in the United States and Kirk has made cleaning them up a top priority. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Superfund is an EPA-run program aimed at cleaning up “abandoned, accidentally spilled, or illegally dumped hazardous waste that poses a current or future threat to human health or the environment”.
Kirk hopes to fight for Texas’s share of funding to develop technologies that will reduce pollution caused by transportation.
Since the candidates’ platforms are so similar, the environmental issue may not be a deciding factor in this year’s elections.
