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Welcome to "Ask the White House" -- an online interactive forum where you can submit questions to Bush administration officials.

Today's guest: EPA Administrator Christie Whitman

Good evening, I'm Christie Whitman, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. On this Earth Day 2003, I welcome you to the third of our "Ask the White House" online discussions. This evening, as we join together to discuss our environment, it's important to reflect on just how far we've come. We don't have killer smogs today and our rivers don't catch fire, but we still have headlines like the ones this week stating that one child in four in parts of New York City have asthma.

We're working hard to change that. The President's Clear Skies legislation would force the reduction of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and mercury emissions by 70 percent. We just announced a program to significantly cut emissions from non-road diesels -- construction and agricultural equipment -- and we've just launched Clean School Bus USA as well as pilot projects to clean up our urban rivers.

I'm looking forward to chatting with you about the environment, so let's get started.