Political Quotes

“This language simply maintains the status quo regarding the definition of ``fill material'' for the purposes of the Clean Water Act. The existing definition was put in place through a rule-making initiated by the Clinton administration and finalized by the Bush administration. That rule harmonized the definitions on the books of the Corps and the EPA so that both agencies were working with the same definition. Any attempts to redefine this important definition could significantly negatively impact the ability of all earth-moving industries, road and highway construction, and private and commercial enterprises to obtain vital Clean Water Act section 404 permits. Changing the definition of ``fill material'' could result in the loss of up to 375,000 high-paying mining jobs and jeopardize over 1 million jobs that are dependent upon the economic output generated by these operations. For these reasons, I support the underlying language and oppose this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.”