• Massachusetts Democrats
are dedicated to protecting We believe in the protection and
preservation of our environment: air, water, land,
and open spaces.
We support rules and incentives for safeguarding natural resources and
acquisitions of land, water and recreational resources. We believe in the value
of public parks and beaches in our Commonwealth that are clean, safe, well
maintained, and which offer a wide range of recreational choices. We support
the state transfer of land situated above the sole source aquifer which
provides the water supply to the Department of Enviromental
Management.
• We support increased funding intended
to preserve Massachusetts open spaces and recreational areas. state
assistance for communities to protect, by purchase or conservation restriction,
threatened parcels, with a priority on riparian lands or wetlands, wildlife
habitat, and urban and semi-urban communities with little open space left. We
oppose any new efforts to drill off of our coasts in special water bodies such
as Georges Bank.
We affirm the right of every person and community to a clean, safe, and
healthy environment. We believe environmental justice must be a fundamental
component of state and federal environmental policy, and that its criteria and
standards are vital to the fair and full assessment of environmental impacts.
We give the highest priority to ensuring the health and safety of children,
elders, and immune-compromised people who are most in need of protection from
environmental harms. We support the development of new, stronger standards for
siting pollution-emitting facilities that take account of
the cumulative health impacts of pollution sources already present in a
neighborhood or region.
We know the scientific evidence for global climate change is clear and
incontrovertible, and we recognize the human, environmental, and economic risk
it poses. We call on our society, including specifically our businesses and
industries, and our state, and our federal government to take immediate and
pro-active steps to prevent the harmful impacts of rising global temperatures
on the people of the Commonwealth and our environment. We advocate specific targets
for the reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate change
gases, including reducing carbon dioxide emissions from our dirtiest power
plants by 75%, producing 20% of our state’s energy from renewable energy
sources by 2010, and doubling energy efficiency of our homes, buildings and
industry with a focus on energy efficiency in state buildings. We support the
aggressive implementation of the state’s utility deregulation law alternative
energy fund provisions and other state and federal renewable energy incentives.
• We urge federal, state, and local governments to
encourageWe seek policies that encourage smart and
sustainable land uses, and which discourage the poorly planned, land and
automobile-intensive pattern of development known as sprawl.
• We support
thoughtful approaches to sustainable development
practices to foster that
promote economic sustainability for both urban and
rural cities and towns. prosperity while
limiting environmental impacts, like overuse of already diminished water
supplies, and improving quality of life through shorter commutes and
closer-knit, more livable communities. We encourage new growth and jobs in
already-developed areas that have the infrastructure, such as public transportation,
in place to support them without undue environmental consequences. We strongly
support the state’s Interbasin Transfer Act,
preventing major diversions of water from one watershed to another, and oppose
wasteful taxpayer subsidies for projects that exacerbate sprawl and its
associated problems.
• We support greater federal
and state investment in
solid waste and pollution prevention programs.continued efforts to
prevent pollution in the first place as the best means of limiting toxic and
solid waste. We advocate an approach in which the stateās wastes will be
stored, treated, and disposed of in ways that prevent harm to people and the
environment.
We strongly support the state’s Toxics Use Reduction Law and other
Right-to-Know measures that help protect public and worker health while
encouraging reduced use of environmentally hazardous materials. We advocate
expanded disclosure with respect to highly toxic substances like lead and
mercury and pesticides.
• We advocate the full cleanup and redevelopment
of hazardous waste sites, and
the targeting of state Brownfields Act dollars to
poorer and urban areas. We support a strong Superfund program that continues
to make polluters and economic beneficiaries of the pollution, not taxpayers,
pay for the comprehensive cleanup of toxic waste sites. We believe that
community members deserve greater input into the cleanup of toxic waste sites
in their neighborhoods, and that hazardous waste sites must be cleaned up
completely, permanently, and safely.
We believe in the right of all residents of the Commonwealth to drinking
water that is clean and safe to drink. Effective protection of America’s
rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers and coastal and ocean waters will sustain
fish, plants and wildlife as well as recreational, subsistence, and economic
activities. We support the • We oppose the Republican
administration cuts in water quality, land preservation and wastewater
treatment programs, as well as the Massachusetts Clean Water State
Revolving Loan
Fund. for drinking water and wastewater projects, and
a strong Coastal Zone
Management program to ensure the vitality of coastal communities and
industries. We advocate aggressive implementation of The Beaches Act, and the
addition of the Massachusetts Bay as an
Ocean Sanctuary and enhanced enforcement of the Ocean Sanctuaries Act.
We believe in the right of all residents of the Commonwealth to air that
is clean and safe to breathe. We call on the state to continue to lead with a
Clean Air Act that is more stringent than federal law, and we recognize
benefits to both environment and the public health, such as those with respect
to children, the elderly, and other people with respiratory ailments like
asthma. We must follow through on the commitment to clean up the state’s older,
dirtier coal and oil-fired plants through a four pollutant approach that
achieves reductions in carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and
mercury consistent with levels to protect the public and environment. We
strongly advocate increased renewable energy and efficiency programs.
We recognize the need to reduce tailpipe pollution from automobiles, trucks
and buses, and we advocate retaining the state’s current commitment to adopt
the California
automobile emission requirements.• We support
increasing transportation
choices that foster state investment in public
transportation, to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and vehicle
emissions.,and we strongly endorse
innovative proposals to limit emissions from air traffic.
We advocate strong laws and policies to assure that the food we eat is
free from environmental contaminants like unsafe pesticide residues. We support
efforts to reduce pesticide use through integrated pest management and the
swift implementation of the Children’s Protection Act assuring advance
notification to those most likely being exposed to pesticides used on lawns,
for landscaping and at schools. We believe state and federal regulatory
agencies should pay especially close attention to pollutants that have a direct
impact on our familiesā health, with a particular emphasis on regulating
mercury, arsenic, pesticides, and lead.
We believe it is a basic responsibility of government to ensure that all
laws enacted to protect our environment are obeyed and enforced.• We support
stricter enforcement of state and federal environmental
protection statutes. more frequent
inspections, vigorous enforcement, penalties sufficiently high to take away any
economic incentive to disobey the law, and earmarking a portion of such
penalties for environmental cleanup.
We applaud the cooperative partnership programs established between state
and federal environmental protection agencies, which maximize efficiency and
ensure consistency in the enforcement of environmental regulations. We support
efforts to provide education and assistance to business, universities,
hospitals and industry to enable them to comply with regulations and go beyond
compliance. We support an aggressive program to work with these sectors to
foster environmental management systems within their facilities.
Developed by Brad Johnson (Boston Ward 4). Presented as a service for the 2005 Massachusetts Democratic Convention by Democracy for America: Boston.