Barbara Boxer

We are not going to repeal the Clean Air Act and we are not going to repeal the Safe Drinking Water Act.

And I think that is what the beauty is of the Clean Air Act which is under such fierce attack.

Wouldn't you think it would be fair to limit that pollution?

I don't think that any agency, the Federal Government or any State agency, should overstep its bounds.

But that wasn't my question. My question was if you were one of those States that got a huge amount of pollution from a next door State which did nothing to prevent it, would you put yourself in the shoes of Delaware or Rhode Island or…

It seems to me that is right spot on.

We will never repeal the Clean Air Act. We will never repeal the Clean Water Act. We will never repeal the Safe Drinking Water Act. We will never repeal the Superfund Act. We will never repeal the Brownfields Act.

To me it is a moral crime.

There has to be Federal minimum standards.

Let's make sure what we do doesn't lead to another Flint, Michigan.

You said what you saw at the State level was out-and-out cronyism, to put it in the mildest form.

So I am not going to deal with that issue unless we have minimum protections. That is essential.

But after seeing the corruption in Flint, ... I am going to ask you to expand on that one more time.

The problem with the bill that Senators Hoeven and Manchin have, there is no Federal standard.

I believe the brownfields bill is certainly ready to move forward, I believe the coal ash bill weakens protections and should not move forward, and I believe we can work together to get that Good Samaritan bill into a very good place, and…

As I often say, no one has ever asked me, ... please weaken our clean water rules; I really don't want to have sure pure air or water. Baloney. They want it better.

Well, Mr. Holleman, I just want to say you are the best witness that I have ever had on my side of an issue, for many reasons.

Recycling of coal ash is absolutely allowed under the EPA rule.

The problem that we have in the bill that was introduced by my friends, Senators Hoeven and Manchin, is that it eliminates one, two, three, four, five, six, seven of the minimum standards in the rule

I expect the law enforcement authorities to communicate and work with the law-abiding people who reported it.

I already think what the EPA did was not strong enough to protect the people.

I want to express my deepest sympathies to the Scalia family. Justice Scalia was first and foremost a family man, beloved by his wife, 9 children, and 36 grandchildren. Since 1986 he had served on the highest court in our land. He inspired…

But I think it is important that people understand this because Media Matters points out the various huge grants you have received from big oil.

So you are saying it is a short-term phenomenon?

Well, we have lived through that before, haven't we?