On the day before Earth Day, U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey’s Green Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2004 passed the House by an overwhelming, bipartisan vote, 402-14.

“I’m proud of the vote tally; it proves that this is sound, common-sense legislation that’s going to benefit the country,” Gingrey said. “The green chemistry legislation will move us more quickly toward cleaner, cheaper chemical processes. U.S. industries have already taken steps in that direction and this bill will demonstrate that green chemistry is a congressional priority in federal research. The majority of environmental protection laws passed by Congress focus on treating pollution – limiting the spread of pollutants, cleaning up waste or assessing fines to polluters. But I believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We should be devoting considerably more effort toward finding ways to prevent pollution in the first place rather than mitigating hazards after they have already been created. This bill passed by the House today does just that.”

Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert praised Gingrey’s work on the bill.

“I want to congratulate our colleague, Dr. Gingrey, for having introduced it. In a short time, Dr. Gingrey has become one of the most active and effective members of the Science Committee,” Boehlert said. “Green chemistry benefits companies and workers, the economy and the environment. If we reduce to ounces the quantity of toxic chemicals we use and produce, then we won’t have to clean up pounds of toxics downstream.”

The legislation seeks to promote green chemistry by authorizing a coordinated green chemistry R&D program. It directs federal agencies to work together to focus more of their chemistry research funds on green chemistry – research that could have a major benefit on the public, but that industry is unlikely to fund on its own. The bill would not increase overall federal spending. The bill would also promote green chemistry education, and collection and dissemination of information about green chemistry, so that more students would learn about this field and more companies would learn about green chemistry solutions.

The bill will now move to the Senate Commerce Committee.