Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) comments about recent news that Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska.) has been indicted for seven counts of making false statements to federal authorities.

 

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Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) says at a press conference to discuss Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D-NJ) new aviation safety bill that America will “have a crisis in the skies” if safety concerns are not met, and says that “if the president wants to go toe-to-toe with us on that, I say fine, let’s do it.” (0:27)

 

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Today Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced a new bill called the Safety Improvement Act of 2008 to improve airline safety, and was joined by supporters Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). Patrick Forrey, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, and Transportation Trades Department President Ed Wytkind joined the senators to voice their support. The bill was described as an effort to improve runway safety and reduce risk of collision during take-off and landing, as well as ensure that airport first-responders are prepared to handle an emergency situation.
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Today the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s toxic chemical policies. Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) blamed the Bush Administration for changes in EPA’s policies that allow political interference in the scientific risk assessment process. She argued that allowing political entities to interfere in a process that demands only scientific expertise inhibits the acquisition of the most accurate information needed to develop policies that will protect American citizens and children from harmful toxins and chemicals in air and drinking water.

Another concern was the secrecy involved in EPA policy making. The Government Accountability Office report said that the EPA had failed to deliver timely, accurate reports that could be held accountable. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) presented a flow chart that compared the EPA’s risk assessment process prior to 2004 to its most recent model, which displays many more steps and which he says obscures the transparency of the process.

Contrasts were made between the United States’ Toxic Substances Control Act, which makes the government responsible for proving chemical safety, and its European counterpart, REACH, that puts the burden of proving chemical safety on the chemical industry itself, which Chairman Boxer said in her written statement is “where it should be.”

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) explains the need for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services director Dale Hall to abide by US law when making decisions in a timely manner that affect the lives of polar bears at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing examining the threats and protections for the polar bear this morning.

 

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Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) disapproves of the recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny a California waiver which would reduce greenhouse gas pollutants from motor vehicles. He criticizes the current Bush administration for failing to address the issue of global warming and predicts that the administration “will go down in American history as the worst administration in so many areas… including environmental protection.”

 

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Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works commented today on the recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny a California waiver aimed at reducing greenhouse gas pollutants from motor vehicles. Lautenberg described the EPA’s denial of the waiver as an “injustice” at a hearing today organized to discuss the EPA’s decision.

 

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Today the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee met to discuss the recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny the California waiver drafted to regulate greenhouse gas pollution from motor vehicles. Chairman of the Committee, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), responds to testimony given by the administrator of the EPA, Stephen Johnson, after he refuses to admit that global warming poses a threat to human health.

 

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