Liz Saville Roberts: “Mr. Chairman, this is one of those ``I had not intended on making a speech'' speech. But it seems to me as I listened to…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is one of those ``I had not intended on making a speech'' speech. But it seems to me as I listened to the debate between the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Portman], the gentlewoman from Colorado, and the gentleman from California in regard to this partnership effort that we have in trying to establish safeguards for clean water and clean air and all of the things that we must do to ensure our country have the cleanup and the safety of every consumer and every citizen. I think the remark was made about a partnership effort in children as being part of the family. The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Portman] touched on this just for a moment, but I think it bears some amplification, more especially as it applies to this amendment. An example I would like to bring is that of a small community in Kansas in my district by the name of Pretty Prairie. Now, Pretty Prairie has under 1,000 people. It has been in a growing dispute with the EPA for the last 4 or 5 years. The EPA in their infinite wisdom has reduced the level of nitrates in regard to what is safe and not safe from 20 parts per million to 10. And all of a sudden the EPA through the State agency informed this small community that they were out of compliance. Some 600 to 800 people were forced to try to come up with some kind of a plan to address the EPA dictate, or the mandate. We are talking nearly a million bucks.…”