Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from California. Mr. Chairman, just to give you an idea of how prevalent the problem is, I'll just summarize a little more. In Arizona, the Maricopa Association of Governments, or MAG, has said that there have been about 100 events that have exceeded the PM10 standard this year. All but one was from an exceptional event--dust storms that occurred naturally. What happens then is States and localities, as I said, have to go to the EPA and beg for an exception to the rule. In some cases, just for an example, if you take all of the events in 2011, the Maricopa Association of Governments is estimating it will cost over $1 million to just argue and put together the paperwork to go to the EPA and say, This was a big monsoon that caused this. It was an exceptional event. In the end, the EPA may rule in our favor, but it is the cost of actually going through it. This is not just in Maricopa County. It's not just in Arizona. In the San Joaquin Valley, I believe it has noted that the paperwork for just one high-wind exceptional event takes more than 400 staff hours to prepare in order to go to the EPA. It takes 400 staff hours for one exceptional event like this to go and say, This shouldn't count against our air quality or count against us in terms of new regulations and costs that will be imposed on us. I am a cosponsor of the underlying bill to which this amendment will be attached, and I support it. This is an important amendment.…”