Political Quotes

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the EPA has been working on this regulation since the 1990s. Under the 1990 law, they are required to put in place a regulation to protect from these toxic pollutants. They are required to be put into place by the year 2000. They tried, thrown it out of court, they have now tried again, and they have already proposed a rule that is now going to be repealed by this legislation. So it's taken them over a decade to finally get to this point. It's a long, overdue rule that requires cement kilns to reduce their emissions of toxic air pollutants. EPA estimates that this rule will reduce mercury emissions from cement kilns by 16,400 pounds, or 92 percent, compared with projected levels, that is, if they are allowed to remain in effect; and they also had to do a cost-benefit analysis. They said that this rule will yield $7 to $19 in health benefits for every dollar that's spent to meet the standards and will prevent up to 2,500 premature deaths and 17,000 asthma attacks each year. So EPA has been mindful of the costs and the benefits. The bill before us effectively vacates the cement rules, kiln rules, nullifies these health benefits, forces EPA to start all over again. They give EPA 15 months to come up with more regulation, and then they bar EPA from enforcing any final rules for at least 5 years.…”