Where Bob Dole Stands on Environment

Bob Dole Has Been A Congressional Leader in Protecting the Environment
Eighty-six years ago, another Republican environmentalist, President Teddy Roosevelt, said, "of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the central task of leaving this land even a better place for our descendants than it is for us."

Bob Dole has always understood the key role that the federal government plays in protecting the environment. Bob Dole is the only Presidential candidate ever to have voted for and help pass every major piece of environmental protection legislation in the past 25 years. He:

• Co-sponsored the Safe Drinking Water Act, which ensures healthy drinking water for all Americans.
• Played a key role in passing the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.
• Led the Clean Air Act to passage, a law that fundamentally reformed the previous law and is recognized as one of the most sweeping environmental laws ever enacted.
• Played a significant role in amending the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in 1971 to help eliminate the discharge of pollutants into navigable waters and to ensure the integrity of the nation's water supply by uniting federal and state efforts.
• Introduced the Private Property Rights Act to ensure that the government justly compensates property owners for the "takings" of private property for public use.
• Has long supported funding to preserve our natural resources including the Presidio, the Florida Everglades and America's National Parks.
• Served as a key architect of the 1996 Farm Bill which contains one of the most significant conservation provisions ever enacted. This provision, introduced by Dole, maintains the Conservation Reserve Program, curbs water pollution through the Environmental Quality Incentive Program and provides the restoration of wetlands by increasing the Wetlands Reserve Program. At Senator Dole's insistence, the bill also provides $300 million for the restoration of the Florida Everglades.
  
  Bob Dole Will Continue to Protect and Strengthen Our Natural Environment
  As President, Bob Dole will:
• Support policies that keep our environment safe and clean, protect the property rights of all Americans, and give states and local communities the flexibility they need to effectively meet real environmental challenges.
• Continue to support the development of non-polluting electric vehicles and cleaner alternative fuels as he has done since the 1970s.
• Continue to support reforms of the Superfund Program so that the program focuses on the cleanup of hazardous waste sites -- not on endless, expensive and ineffective litigation.
  
  A Better America
  As President, Bob Dole will continue to fight for a cleaner, safer environment. He will work to ensure that our water remains safe to drink, our air clean to breath, and our land protected against pollution and degradation.