Senator John Edwards (D)

Public Health

Air Pollution [click here to read question thirteen]

"Approximately 50,000 people per year die prematurely from pollution and soot. The impact on North Carolina is particularly notable. Every year, some 1,800 North Carolinians die prematurely from pollution and soot. I am proud that North Carolina lawmakers responded to this public health crisis by passing a Clean Smokestacks law to cut pollution emissions in the state dramatically. The standards in the President's proposed Clear Skies initiatives were far weaker than the standards in North Carolina's law.

I have fought hard to protect clean air by preventing rollbacks of important provisions in the Clean Air Act requiring plants to upgrade their facilities if they want to increase their emissions. I have also strongly opposed President Bush’s so-called Clear Skies initiative, which would allow more emissions of sulfur, more nitrogen oxides, and three times more mercury emissions in 2018."

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

I believe that we must reinstate the 'polluter pays' principle in Superfund so we can rebuild the dwindling amount of money currently in the fund. Site cleanup is first of all the burden of polluters, not taxpayers, and we must make polluters pay. There is more we can do as well. I support and have voted for federal tax incentives to help local communities set aside open space, protect water quality, and clean up abandoned industrial sites in urban areas. I support EPA’s brownfields grants to help communities clean up contaminated land.

Chemical Security [click here to read question fifteen]

"I support tough new safety standards at chemical plants vulnerable to terrorist attacks. While H.R. 5695 was a good start, I believe we must go further to ensure that safer technologies are used in chemical plants, states are not restricted from passing tougher security standards, and new rules apply to water facilities that use hazardous chlorine gas. Unfortunately, because of industry pressure, new watered-down security rules imposed by the Bush administration may have actually weakened security at many plants.

Weak security standards are more evidence that President Bush’s so-called 'Global War on Terror' is only a political doctrine that Republicans use to justify all the worst abuses and biggest mistakes of this administration—from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo to the assault on civil liberties to the war in Iraq. A smarter, stronger national security policy would put real security standards in place at vulnerable locations like chemical plants, power plants and ports."

Clean Water Act[click here to read question sixteen]

"I strongly support the Clean Water Act and believe the Act is critically important to restoring the health of our nation's waters. I have strongly opposed efforts to roll back this historic legislation. While in the Senate, I fought hard against Bush proposals that would allow increased amounts of arsenic in our water supply and that would deny federal protection to bodies of water across America."

Environmental Justice [click here to read question seventeen]

"Proximity to toxic waste is more closely correlated with race than with any other factor. Pollution and brownfields are concentrated in low-income neighborhoods where big corporations think that the people will not fight back. To give communities the tools to defend their rights, we must maintain access to the courts and disclose the risks of plants. We also need vigorous enforcement of our civil rights laws, including reversal of the Supreme Court’s misguided decision in Sandoval v. Alexander with respect to injunctive relief. We must also do more to make Clean Air Act enforcement as vigorous in Texas and Louisiana as it is in California. I am committed to equal justice for all Americans, and that includes equal environmental justice.

In building the new energy economy, we need to promote environmentally safe and economically strong communities. I will shift our electricity sources from polluting central power plants to distributed renewable generation like community wind, solar and biomass energy sold back to the electric grid. We must also do more to encourage smart growth and the use of public transportation to promote environmental and economic justice in every community."

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

"Pesticides have moved from an injustice facing farm workers to an everyday hazard for American families. I will make sure that public health and environmental impacts of pesticides are paramount while still supporting independent farmers."