Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 953, Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2017. This legislation eliminates the requirement to acquire two permits for the same pesticide application under two separate laws and, I might add, if you live in California, there is a separate requirement under the California Clean Water Act that requires an additional permit. That would still apply regardless if this legislation is passed. In order to be permitted to use a pesticide, that pesticide must be approved under FIFRA, which includes an analysis that must be performed that finds it will not generally cause unreasonable adverse effects to the environment or to the health. However, current law requires another permit to be acquired for the same action under the Clean Water Act if you happen to be close to a water body, and that is where the duplication occurs. Not only are these requirements redundant, they are expensive, and the cost of the individual Clean Water Act permit ranges from $150,000 to $270,000 and can take up to 2 years. No one wants to risk human health, not I, not anyone, but in my opinion this would not do so. We have Zika, we have West Nile, and we have a host of spreading of these diseases by mosquitoes in which this, in fact, can address those issues. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this bill in order to remove this unnecessary, unneeded regulatory burden and expense.”