Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The supporters of this bill said they're simply trying to exempt harmless dirt from farms and ranches from regulation under the Clean Air Act. That simply is not the case. This bill is nothing more than a bait-and-switch. The title says it's about farm dust, but in reality, it would exempt air pollution from a number of industrial sources from the entire Clean Air Act, including mines. The bill defines ``nuisance dust'' to include particulate matter, that consists primarily of natural materials generated from sources that include ``earth moving.'' So when you look at that definition, it would allow mines to be exempted from the requirements of the Clean Air Act. This is an egregious overreach that would allow mines to release particulate matter into the air without any controls. The Kennecott, Utah, Copper Mine serves as a perfect example of why this is such a problem. Kennecott Copper operates one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world, in Utah. The mine is even visible from space. Every day, they mine about 150,000 tons of copper ore and 330,000 tons of waste rock from the Bingham Canyon mine. Kennecott's operations are the single largest source of particulate pollution in Utah. The mine is having a significant impact on air quality, even with the pollution control requirements in place.…”