Senator Hillary Clinton (D)

Public Health

Air Pollution[click here to read question thirteen]

"The Bush Administration has disregarded the advice of key scientific and medical experts when it comes to air quality and many other environmental and public health issues. As President, I would restore a health-based approach to clean air standards that relies on the best available science rather than the advice of industry lobbyists. In addition to restoring science about the health impacts of pollution to the center of clean air standards, I would work to apply science more broadly to improve environmental health. For example, I would by increasing funding for biomonitoring to get a better understanding of which chemicals are accumulating in our bodies, and would link cancer and other chronic disease registries to databases with information about pollution. I introduced the Coordinated Environmental Health Network Act, to do just that."

Superfund “Polluter Pays”[click here to read question fourteen]

"Superfund remains a vital environmental health program, and I support reinstating the 'polluter pays' principle to the program. These additional resources will mean faster cleanups, and will ensure that ordinary taxpayers don’t get stuck with the bill for cleaning up polluted sites."

Chemical Security[click here to read question fifteen]

"I was an original cosponsor of tough chemical plant security legislation, the Chemical Security Act, introduced in 2001, and I continue to support a requirement to deploy safer technologies at chemical plants to reduce the threat posed by chemical plants and to make them less attractive as targets. In addition, I support the use of drills and other means to ensure that security plans are well-implemented at chemical plants that pose the highest risks."

Clean Water Act[click here to read question sixteen]

"I support legislation to restore Clean Water Act jurisdiction."

Environmental Justice[click here to read question seventeen]

"The Bush Administration has neglected environmental justice and has taken steps to literally define the problem away. I will restore the meaning of environmental justice through executive order and hold EPA and other agencies accountable for implementing it. We need to involve not just environmental officials, but housing, public health, civil rights, and other experts. In addition, I will ensure that communities have a stronger role in working with the government on environmental justice issues. Finally, I will build on the work I have done in the Senate to address specific environmental justice problems, such as introducing the Family Asthma Act, which would help children manage their asthma, and improve our ability to identify and control the environmental factors that contribute to asthma attacks; passing the Healthy, High Performance Schools Act, which will help schools eliminate environmental hazards that can affect learning like mold and lead; and introducing the Coordinated Environmental Health Network Act, which would connect chronic disease registries with information about pollutants in order to increase our understanding of the relationship between the two."

Pesticides and Rural Communities [click here to read question eighteen]

"I have long protested the Bush Administration’s routine ignorance of science in setting environmental policy, and the regulation of pesticides and toxic substances is now exception. I will ensure that my Administration uses science to protect human health and the environment from pesticides and other toxic substances."