Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to continue to share with our colleagues the reasons I oppose the nomination of Bill Wehrum to be EPA's Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation. Throughout his career, Mr. Wehrum has clearly shown he is dismissive of the science that is the core of EPA's actions to protect public health. Nothing during this confirmation process has convinced me that Mr. Wehrum's approach will change going forward. I have said this before, and I will say it again because it makes Mr. Wehrum's priorities clear, our courts have overturned regulations that Mr. Wehrum helped craft while at EPA a staggering 27 times. That is 27 times that the courts determined the rules Mr. Wehrum put in place did not follow the law or did not adequately protect public safety--27 times. In one of those instances, the courts faulted EPA's lack of action to reduce mercury and toxic air pollution emissions from electric powerplants. I have worked on controlling mercury pollution since I became a Member of this body 17 years ago, so I would like to spend some time talking about this issue, mercury. Much of our country's ongoing efforts to clean up air pollution hinge on making sure every State plays by the rules and does their fair share to reduce air pollution. That includes dangerous toxic pollution like mercury.…”