Political Quotes

“Very briefly, this bill includes the provision that provides up to an additional 6 months for EPA to finalize the arsenic in drinking water rule. They can finalize it before June 2001 but will not be held to the statutory deadline. And EPA does not anticipate finalizing the rule until April or May, despite the act's requirements. The practical effect of knocking this out would be to force EPA to spend its resources fighting in court to do what it cannot otherwise do, and that is take the time necessary to do the job right. The Safe Drinking Water Act called for a full year of comment. The full year would be up June 2001. The most conservative estimates of compliance, including EPA's, for the smallest communities show water rates increasing by hundreds of dollars per family. The State of Utah Department of Environmental Quality says the rate increase to remove arsenic from the Heartland Mobile Home Park would be $230 per month per customer. Even the EPA said it would be $70 per month per customer. Do you know what is going to happen? No system. They are going to be off the system. There will be no water. They will get it from sources that are not protected at all. This is a very important rule that needs to be worked out scientifically. EPA has not identified the specific level in drinking water below which there is not a significant risk to public health.”