May 31, 2001

The Honorable Christine Todd Whitman
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460

Re: State Programs for Open Market Emissions Trading

To The Honorable Christine Todd Whitman:

The undersigned groups appeal to you to impose a moratorium on the use of open market emissions trading, including the four state air pollution trading programs that were proposed for federal approval in the waning days of the Clinton-Gore administration. The proposals in question were expedited between December and February, and involve the states of Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and New Hampshire, respectively. For your reference, the relevant Federal Register notices are listed at the end of this letter.

In your statements during confirmation and in other forums you have committed your administration of the Environmental Protection Agency to principles of equity and environmental justice, to balancing incentives with both enforcement and environmental accountability, and to shifting discretion towards the regions and communities who best understand the nature of their problems. As you have assumed the lead at EPA, however, you have inherited from the previous administration a collection of "reinvention" policies under the guise of "open market emissions trading" that fail in all of these regards.

First, this approach to air pollution trading fails to protect minority and poor communities against continued degradation of air quality in their neighborhoods. Second, rather than balancing incentives with enforcement, these programs simply concede enforcement to market participants and then fail to buttress that concession with credible monitoring, audit and backstop provisions. Finally, the programs fail either to provide adequate protection against localized community-specific impacts, or to provide those communities with sufficient and timely information that they need in order to participate in these decisions. These programs disempower the communities and retreat from the rigor and enforceability of established health and environmental protections.

As your recent comments about the benefits of cap-and-trade programs illustrate, economic incentive programs are a viable solution to some environmental problems. Yet it is imperative that these programs match flexibility with the highest standard of accountability, such as that achieved through explicit caps on emissions, accurate emissions quantification, rigorous monitoring, and certain enforceability. We hope that you will include these principles as part of the basis for your administration. It would be tremendously unfortunate, therefore, if one of your early actions were to proceed with poorly formulated "open market" programs, which in practice contradict environmental integrity and fairness.

We look forward to working with you to find ways to provide incentives and flexibility without sacrificing public health and protection of the rights of the poor and minorities.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Ruch
Executive Director
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

John D. Walke
Director, Clean Air Project
Natural Resources Defense Council

Joseph Goffman
Senior Attorney
Environmental Defense

Bill Wolfe
Policy Director, New Jersey Chapter
Sierra Club

Katie Silberman
Public Policy Advocate
Center for Environmental Health

Bob Shavelson
Cook Inlet Keeper

Susan T. West, MPH
Director, Environmental Health Program
Physicians for Social Responsibility

Jeffery Foran
President
Citizens for a Better Environment

Kathy Andria
American Bottom Conservancy (Illinois)

Lisa P. Brenner, Ph.D
President
Oregon Clearinghouse for Pollution Reduction

Luke Cole
Director
Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment

Isaac Elnecave
Policy Specialist
Michigan Environmental Council

Michelle Simon
Project Coordinator
South Durban Community Environmental Alliance >Rob Sargent
Senior Advocate
Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group

John Blair
President
Valley Watch, Inc. (Indiana)

Rob Cedar
Director
Hamtramck Environmental Action Team

Laura Olah
Executive Director
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (Wisconsin)

Bowden Quinn
Grand Calumet Task Force (Indiana)

Sandra Schubert
Legislative Counsel
Earthjustice

Richard Toshiyuki Drury
Legal Director
Communities for a Better Environment

Endnote:

The referenced Federal Register notices are as follows:
December 27, 2000; V. 65, No. 249; pages 81799-81810 (Illinois)
January 9, 2001; V. 66, No. 6; pages 1795-1805 (New Jersey)
February 7, 2001; V. 66, No. 26; pages 9264-9278 (Michigan)
February 7, 2001; V. 66, No. 26; pages 9278-9285 (New Hampshire)