Michael Bennet

We have asked you and the President to find resources and try to prioritize funding for a water treatment plant in the Upper Animas River.

My hope is that as you work toward a decision that you will engage everyone in Colorado on this question.

We need to pass Good Samaritan legislation, as Senator Gardner said.

Senator Bennet and I were at a community meeting in Durango where the results of testing and water samples were displayed.

Sometimes when information is produced but not explained, that can be as bad as keeping information hidden.

I fully agree with that.

It is also clear...the agency was slow to communicate with local governments.

We need to reform the 1872 Mining Law to make sure that companies pay royalties to taxpayers.

This same amount of polluted water was already being released from the Gold King Mine about every week.

There is no denying that EPA caused this disaster.

These families deserve to have the full attention and the dedicated resources of the Administration committed to the clean up.

Let's identify exactly what went wrong to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Unfortunately, this didn't provide enough certainty and hasn't encouraged action.

It's also clear that the agency was slow to communicate with local governments and didn't obtain water quality results.

This spill shows a greater need for legislation that would allow Good Samaritans the opportunity to assist with cleaning up these abandoned mines across the West.

From the outset I've said that EPA should be held to the same standard as EPA would hold a private company for said spill.

From the outset, I have said that the EPA should be held to the same standards as EPA would hold a private company for the spill, which means investigations must be conducted, people must be held accountable and tough questions must be…

We also need to pass Good Samaritan legislation to encourage counties, nonprofits, and companies to clean up abandoned mines.

The blowout at the Gold King Mine was a disaster that affected many communities in Colorado and New Mexico.

We need solutions to address the acid mine drainage coming from all of these old abandoned mines.

One of the things you said was that we ought to reward students and institutions who are making a difference against the odds. That is the right way to think about it.

We've just, with the Chairman's leadership, managed to pass a reauthorization of what used to be called No Child Left Behind, which for a long, long time measured the wrong thing.

As I listened to the testimony today, I'm reminded again that policy is one thing and implementation is something else.

I am introducing a bill today, the All Kids Matter Act, which will give all States the ability to invest in prevention efforts for families on the front end before our Nation's children end up in the foster care system.

We have to find a way to reduce the use of congregate care settings and encourage States to adopt best practices to find families for our children.