The Democratic Party
is deeply interested in issues that affect our environment.
This commitment can be seen in many of the positions we take
and in many of the laws we support.
We strongly believe
in protecting our natural resources. There must be
safeguards and incentives in place in to protect beaches,
parks, wetlands and remaining open space. To this end, we
wish to see state assistance go to communities in order
for them to either purchase land or implement conservation
restrictions on threatened land. Further, we oppose any
efforts to drill off the coast in special bodies of water,
such as Georges Bank.
We believe strongly
in environmental justice. This means that we support
the right of every individual to live in a community that
is clean, safe and healthy with the highest priority being
to protect children, the elderly and immune-compromised
individuals. As part of a way to accomplish this, we wish
to see stronger standards implemented for siting pollution-emitting
facilities that reflect the cumulative health impacts of
pollution sources already in the region.
We believe that there
is clear and incontrovertible scientific evidence that global
warming exists. The Democratic Party is calling for
immediate and significant steps to be taken in order to
reduce the impact of global warming. Such steps include
a 75% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from the state's
dirtiest power plants, producing 20% of our state's energy
from renewable sources by 2010 and a doubling of energy
efficiency in our homes, buildings and industries with a
particular focus on increasing energy efficiency in state
buildings. We believe in the aggressive implementation of
state and federal renewable energy incentives and deregulation
laws as means to reduce global warming.
We strongly believe
that an important way to protect the environment is by encouraging
smart growth and reducing sprawl, which places strains
on our water system and increases automobile traffic. We
wish to see programs that would encourage growth in areas
that can sustain it. We strongly oppose taxpayer subsidies
to projects that increase sprawl.
We want to ensure
the right of every citizen to clean, safe water. We support the State Revolving Loan Fund for drinking and
waste-water, a strong Coastal Zone Management program to
protect coastal communities and industry, the aggressive
implementation of The Beaches Act and the Ocean Sanctuaries
Act, as well as the addition of the Massachusetts Bay as
an Ocean Sanctuary.
We support the development
of a system for storing, treating and disposing of solid
and toxic wastes. Further, we would like to expand
the Toxics Use Reduction Law and Right-to-Know laws that
would protect both the community's and worker's health.
We support the full
cleanup and redevelopment of hazardous waste sites and
the targeting of state Brownfields Act dollars to poorer
and urban areas. We advocate a strong Superfund program
that would force polluters to clean up the areas they polluted.
Further, the community should have a stronger voice in such
programs in their neighborhoods.
We believe in the
right of all citizens of the Commonwealth to have clean,
breathable air. We are proud that this state has
a more stringent Clean Air Act than the equivalent federal
law. Further, we must follow through on efforts to clean
up the state's older and dirtier oil and coal power plants.
These types of laws will help improve public health, especially
for children, the elderly and people with asthma.
We strongly support
legislation that reduces auto emissions as well as
the emissions from airplanes. We would like the state to
continue with its commitment to adopt the stricter California
automobile emissions requirements. We also support an increase
in public transportation options that encourage people to
use our already comprehensive and top-notch public transportation
system.
We are dedicated to
enacting strong laws to protect people from pesticides. Further, we wish to see passage of the Children's Protection
Act which would provide warnings to people who might be
exposed to pesticides used on lawns in landscaping and school
grounds.
We strongly support
the current co-operative partnership programs between
state and federal environmental protection agencies as this
increases both efficiency and consistency in enforcement.
We also support efforts to educate businesses on environmental
laws and to help them to abide by these laws or even to
go beyond basic compliance.
We wish to see more
frequent inspections, vigorous enforcement, penalties
high enough to eliminate economic incentives to break the
law, and a program to ensure that a portion of such penalties
goes to further environmental cleanup efforts.