Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I my consume. Mr. Chairman, my amendment is about protecting the health of those Americans who live near mountaintop removal coal mines. It is about keeping surface water from being contaminated; it is about keeping drinking water from being contaminated; and my amendment is about reducing the risk of cancer, birth defects, lung disease, and heart disease for families living near coal mines. Mr. Chairman, all of these health problems have been conclusively linked to the mining practices of dumping the tops of mountains into streambeds. For example, in January 2010, the peer-reviewed journal Science published an article, entitled, ``Mountaintop Mining Consequences.'' And in that article, the authors, who were a dozen scientists from institutions across the country, concluded: Adult hospitalizations for chronic pulmonary disorder and hypertension are elevated as a result of county-level coal production, as are rates of mortality, lung cancer, and chronic heart, lung, and kidney disease. Health problems are for women and men. So the effects are not simply the result of direct occupational exposure of predominantly male coal miners. Mr. Chairman, in 1983, the Ronald Reagan administration completed rules that kept coal mining companies from dumping their overburden directly into streams. The rules required a buffer of 100 feet around waterways.…”