94 



Prepared Statement ok Carol M. Browner 



I am honored to testify before you today in support of creating a Cabinet Depart- 

 ment on the environment, and to confirm this A(ininistration's commitment to im- 

 proving environmental quality. I commend the leadership this Committee has dem- 

 onstrated in pursuing this matter. The Administration supports elevation of EPA to 

 a Cabinet Department and will provide to the Committee suggested technical correc- 

 tions to S. 171 in the near future. 



Environmental quality is inextricably linked to our Nation's and the world's 

 hopes for a better quality of life. Public concern about the environment drives our 

 need to consider how all of our policies affect quality of life for ourselves and our 

 children. 



We all share a strong commitment to the environment. However, without an ade- 

 quate institutional framework, even principled commitment can be rendered ab- 

 stract. The question is not whether to create a Depsirtment on the environment, but 

 when. The answer is now, at the beginning of thia nation's third decade of Federal 

 environmental protection. A decade in which we will move from conunand and con- 

 trol, media-specific r^ulation to alternative approaches oriented toward pollution 

 prevention, ecosystem protection, and incentive-based pwlicies. It is time for a De- 

 partment on the environment to function as a permanent and equal partner in the 

 President's Cabinet, integral to any equation of Federal decisionmaking. 



1993 is a pivotal point in time. We have the opportunity now to establish an envi- 

 ronmental infrastructure ready to meet the challenges of the 21st century. We must 

 move "upstream" and examine individual pollution sources as elements of larger 

 systems. Preventing pollution by elimination or reduction of waste at the source is 

 key to this Administration's commitment to providing a healthy economy that 

 meets our needs today while preserving the environment for our children and 

 future generations to eiyoy. 



A Cabinet Department on the environment will be well-positioned to accelerate 

 efforts to integrate pollution prevention and multi-media decisionmaking into regu- 

 latory and compliance programs Government-wide, to promote the use of incentive- 

 based policies, to improve technical assistance to small business, and to encourage 

 corporate commitment to clean manufacturing processes and green products 

 through innovative programs. A Cabinet that includes an environment Department 

 will ensure that the environment is fully engaged and integrated into the Presi- 

 dent's examination of and decisions on national issues. 



Likewise, EPA's international environmental programs provide cooperation with 

 and technical expertise to developing and newly democratic countries and our in- 

 dustrialized partners. Cabinet status will be important in making the head of EPA a 

 peer with Cabinet colleagues in foreign environment ministries and promoting 

 intemationtd cooperation on the environment. It will also make EPA a more effec- 

 tive collaborator with other Cabinet Departments involved in international environ- 

 mental activities, including UNCED followup, programs in Central and Eastern 

 Europe and the former Soviet Union, and environmental cooperation with Mexico. 



In the past 20 years this country created most of our existing environmental in- 

 frastructure and body of law. To be sure, the National debate among Federal, state, 

 local, and tribal governments, industry, and the public on environmental matters 

 has not always been successful. Nevertheless, significant progress has been 

 achieved. The air, water, and land are demonstrably cleaner as a result of our joint 

 efforts. Our "command and control" approach has worked well but has tended to 

 focus on a relatively small number of ku^e point sources of pollution. In addition its 

 limited scope ignores creative opportunities in terms of pollution prevention and 

 ecosystem approaches. 



The facts show that we have had tangible successes in some areas, that we are 

 learning to better anticipate and meet new challenges, and that our successes 

 depend very much on cooperation among the parties: governments, business, and 

 the public. Yet, our many environmental successes sometimes seem dwarfed by the 

 growing agenda of environmental challenges both domestic and international. 



In 1993, concern for the environment affects individual, corporate, and govern- 

 mental behavior. The environmental ethic has evolved and is taken seriously across 

 economic, cultural, geographic, and governmental sectors. Just as civil rights issues 

 gripped our nation in the SO's, and nuclear/cold war concerns dominated the 70's 

 smd 80's, integration of economic and environmental policy has seized the public's 

 attention in the 90*8. A 1992 Roper/ Johnson poU on environmental behavior indicat- 

 ed that 60% of the population of North America is concerned about the environ- 

 ment. A 1992 survey conducted for the World Wildlife Fund by Peter D. Hart Re- 



