Sound Environmental Policies

By Anna G. Eshoo

One of my top priorities has been working to protect the environment for future generations. This year, I focused on authoring the Act to Save America's Forests, a bill to protect native biodiversity on federal forest lands by abolishing clear-cutting and banning logging in old growth, pristine areas. Over the course of the year, I sent numerous letters to the President supporting the greatest level of protection for roadless areas in national forests all across the country.

Particularly relevant to California, I worked for passage of legislation to allow the state to stop using MTBE without sacrificing air quality standards. I also urged the EPA to issue a waiver for California from the Federal Reformulated Gas (RFG) rules in order to use California's cleaner-burning RFG and eliminate MTBE in our gasoline.