Political Quotes

“I was listening to the gentleman's remarks. If he believes that, by codifying the EPA regulation that this bill is undermining the EPA, I just don't follow that reasoning. That is what this bill does. It takes the EPA regulation and it codifies it. It puts it into statutory law. It sets it as a minimum, and it allows the State regulators who are already regulating solid and hazardous waste to use that as a minimum and to go above it. Far from undermining the EPA's authority here, far from undermining the effort to get a clean environment for the people of America, this enhances it by putting it into law and allowing the States to go above it if that is what they want to do. What this bill really does that is new and is different from what the EPA is trying to do is that it takes the enforcement of this away from different Federal courts around the country, and it gives it to the State regulators, who are already providing this regulation in other common areas and who have been since 1976. I am a lawyer and have practiced in Federal courts. We have many fine Federal district judges around the country, but they are not experts in this area. If you bring a lawsuit in their courts, they and their law clerks will work very hard to make sure that they get it as close to right as they can. But in not having their experience and their expertise, we are going to get a lot of differences. We are going to get a patchwork.…”