THE WHITE HOUSE

The Office of the Press Secretary

                           PRESIDENT CLINTON:
                PROTECTING OUR WATER AND OUR ENVIRONMENT

                             May 29, 1999

Today, in his weekly radio address, President Clinton will announce three new actions to improve water quality: expanded public health protections for thousands of miles of federal beaches; measures to prevent sewage spills that force beach closures; and a comprehensive strategy to better protect rivers and other water bodies on federal lands. The President also will call on Congress to reject proposed budget cuts that threaten public health and the environment, and to pass budget bills free of anti-environmental riders.

Cleaner Water, Safer Beaches. America has made tremendous strides in cleaning rivers, lakes, and coastal waters, yet much work remains. Too often, for instance, beaches must be closed because of sewage spills and other pollution that can cause dysentery, gastroenteritis, hepatitis, and other illnesses. Last year, 350 of the 1,062 beaches surveyed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported closures or health advisories. The President's five-year $2.3 billion Clean Water Action Plan is helping states, communities, and landowners clean up the 40 percent of America's surveyed waterways that are still too polluted for fishing and swimming. Consistent with that effort, the President today will issue a memorandum that:

• Directs the National Park Service and other agencies to expand water quality monitoring along thousands of miles of federal beaches - including the Cape Cod, Cape Hatteras, and Pt. Reyes National Seashores -- to identify pollution sources and protect beach-goers from potential health threats and directs EPA to work with states to strengthen pubic health protections at other beaches, with a goal of stricter state water quality standards no later than 2003.
• Directs EPA to propose within one year a new national rule to prevent overflows from sewage systems -- the major cause of beach closures; and
• Directs federal agencies to adopt a comprehensive strategy to better safeguard rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water on federal lands, after consultation with states, tribes and other stakeholders.

Investing in Our Environment. President Clinton's FY 2000 budget proposes significant new investments to improve air quality, restore salmon and other endangered species, combat global warming, and preserve America's extraordinary lands legacy. But the spending guidelines released recently by the Republican leadership could instead stall toxic cleanups, shut down national parks, cripple clean water protections, and deny communities the help they need to save farms, forests and other disappearing green spaces. The President will call on Congress to reject these devastating cuts and join him in strengthening environmental and public health protections.

No More Stealth Attacks. President Clinton also will call on Congress to pass budget bills free of special-interest "riders" that roll back protections already in place. The President has vetoed bills before because they contained anti-environmental riders and, if necessary, is prepared to do so again.

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|                      House 302(b) Allocations                        |
|            Sacrificing Our Environment and Public Health             |
|                            May 28, 1999                              |
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The House 302(b) allocation slashes funding by 12 percent for priority domestic programs from their 1999 level. Assuming across-the-board cuts in affected subcommittees, VA/HUD, Labor/HHS, Agriculture, Interior, and Energy and Water, this could have devastating impacts on public health and the environment in such programs as toxic waste clean-up, water and public health programs, global warming prevention, and national parks:

• Stopping 15 Toxic Waste Cleanups -- EPA's Superfund program could be cut by $135 million from FY 1999 enacted levels. This could eliminate funding for 15 new federally-led cleanups due to begin during FY 2000, needlessly jeopardizing public health for citizens living near affected sites and making it more difficult to meet the 900-site cleanup goal in 2002.
• Shutting Down National Parks -- Cuts to the National Park Service could reduce services and hours of operation at 378 parks and other facilities serving almost 300 million visitors a year. The $240 million below FY 1999 enacted level could shut smaller parks and back-country areas in larger parks, and jeopardize visitor safety by preventing vital maintenance and repairs.
• Squandering Our Lands Legacy -- By failing to support the President's Lands Legacy initiative, the House allocation could cripple Federal efforts to preserve natural treasures, and deny states and communities $588 million to protect farmland, coastland, urban parks and other green spaces.
• Slashing Water and Public Health Protections -- The reduction to EPA operations from the FY 1999 enacted level could severely hamper implementation of the Clean Water Action Plan, which helps communities clean up the 40 percent of surveyed waters still too polluted for fishing or swimming; and could let polluters off the hook by severely limiting EPA's ability to enforce public health protections.
• Gambling with Global Warming -- Cuts to the Department of Energy and EPA could gut efforts toward cleaner, more efficient energy for homes, transportation, and industry; and keep the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles from meeting its goal of new cars three times more fuel-efficient than today's models by 2004.
• Crippling Wildlife Protections -- Cuts to the Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Army Corps of Engineers could hamper salmon restoration in the Pacific Northwest, shut down some wildlife refuges, and reduce efforts to restore endangered species.
• Raising the Risk of Deadly Wildfires -- Cuts to the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (19 percent below FY 1999) could close some lands to the public and reduce firefighting capabilities. A total decrease of about $160 million below FY 1999 in the wildland firefighting requests for Agriculture and Interior in FY 2000 could severely hamper their capabilities to suppress wild fires, jeopardizing lives and property throughout the West.

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