Majority Whip DeLay Supports Launch of Telecommuting and Air Quality Pilot Project

Washington, DC: House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX) today joined  members of the National Environmental Policy Institute (NEPI), EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Representatives Frank Wolf (R-VA), Mark Udall (D-CO) and Connie Morella (R-MD) at a press onference to launch the National Telecommuting and Air Quality Pilot roject - an effort to encourage employers and employees to help achieve cleaner air, reduce highway congestion, and promote energy conservation.

Congressman DeLay's Statement Follows:"Everyone supports efforts to improve air quality. In the past, this has too often meant the blunt instrument of heavy government regulation. We need to seek approaches that raise environmental standards while preserving economic vitality and individual freedom. "With an approach like this we can both improve the environment and enhance the quality of life for average Americans. But most importantly, we'll do it by fostering cooperation and offering market-based incentives, not by issuing threats, levying fines or imposing more big-government regulation.

"Incentive-based programs simply make sense. Everyone wins when we reduce pollution and expand the choices available to individuals. eCommuting rewards individuals and employers for helping to improve the environment. At the same time, businesses and corporations can help their bottom line by increasing employee productivity, reducing the costs of commuting, and enhancing employee satisfaction. "Reducing time spent sitting in traffic is a direct, tangible way that all of us can improve our quality of life. Less time in traffic means more time with families. Parents, who eCommute one day a week, strengthen their family life and make their neighborhoods safer. 

This program is a new and bold approach. It tests the viability of trading mobile to stationery credits. Companies earn credits from their employee's mobile emission reductions and sell them to manufacturers or utilities (stationery sources) in the region. "One year from now in Houston, Philadelphia, the DC Capitol Region, Denver and LA, we'll measure the benefits to the environment from eCommuting. I look forward to the results. I believe that they will show cleaner air and happier employees. That will be good news for all of us. And hopefully it will spark other scientists and entrepreneurs to develop more innovative approaches to enhance our environment with cooperation and flexible approaches like incentives."

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Tuesday, April 24, 2001

Pilot Program Will Reward Employers for eCommuters
By KAREN MASTERSON
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- A new federal program launched Tuesday will offer tax breaks and other incentives to companies in five cities, including Houston, that let employees work from home. Businesses would get a credit for each of its " eCommuters" that the company could use for an IRS tax break or sell to power plants and other large polluters -- which would use them to delay adhering to stricter clean air requirements.

Houston is one of five cities selected for the pilot project, overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that essentially pays employers to let workers stay at home. Denver, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Washington are the other four cities.

"Everyone supports efforts to improve air quality," said DeLay, who joined EPA Administrator Christie Whitman at a news conference Tuesday to launch the program.He said industry pollution is a separate matter for science, technology and federal policies to address.eCommuting is a voluntary, incentive-based program designed to help reduce car emissions, DeLay said, that avoids using "the blunt instrument of heavy government regulations."DeLay helped secure funding for what he called this "new and bold approach" to controlling car emissions last year as part of the transportation spending bill.While not commenting on how to address the larger problem of industrial CO2 emissions, Whitman said eCommuting would help city smog-reduction programs, such as Houston's.

"It's a perfect example of what the president is talking about when he says he wants to develop partnershipsto help address environmental issues", she said. Under the eCommute plan, employees would stay at home one or two days a week.