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.