Bob Filner: “I rise today in support obviously of the rule, but also of the underlying bill, and especially the manager's amendment…”

“I rise today in support obviously of the rule, but also of the underlying bill, and especially the manager's amendment which authorizes a water-related infrastructure project of great interest and need in my district and to my constituents in Imperial County, California. The New River, and that is the name of the river we are dealing with, the New River has been described as the world's worst polluted river. The river flows from Mexico north across the U.S. border and through my district in southern California. Due to grossly inadequate sewage treatment and solid waste facilities in Mexico, raw sewage, industrial waste and garbage are constantly released into the New River, hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage in the New River every year. It is extremely polluted. It is foamy, foul-smelling. A person would not want their children to play anywhere near this river. It violates water quality standards, and plants and animals cannot survive in much of the river. It continues to threaten the health of the residents of my district and even of undocumented immigrants who use the waterway to try to cross the international border.”