George Miller: “Very often local governments don't do things, not because the local voters don't want them to do things, but because the…”

“Very often local governments don't do things, not because the local voters don't want them to do things, but because the local power structure doesn't want them to do something, whether it is the local industry or the largest taxpayer in that city which decides 'If you do that, I'm going to have to spend x millions of dollars.' But they also, those same people, the power structure, the local industry, others may very well have a social obligation to clean up the river and to clean up the air. It is not that that can always be overcome. Let's not pretend that every time the local voters get their way with the local city council or the local mayor or the governor or the county board of supervisors. That simply is not so. To suggest that somehow all righteous answers are at the local level is simply not the case. That is why very often we come to the Federal Government to try to pass a law that will unify us in terms of progress in this country, and in terms of the concerns of the people of this country.”