Political Quotes

“There was a time in America, in my home State of Illinois, when people would strip-mine coal. They would literally drag the coal out from just below the surface and leave behind this terrible wasteland that looked like craters on the Moon. Over time, people started saying: It is not only ugly but the runoff is dangerous, and we ought to require the coal companies to restore the land after they have strip-mined so it can be used for something--so it looks a little bit like it looked when God created it. That really reflected a kind of change in the national conscience which said it isn't enough to take the land, or take parts of America, blight them, make them toxic and dangerous for someone to make a profit. We said, as we looked around America and found toxic waste and hazardous waste, that is a danger to our environment, to the people living nearby and to the ground water. President Carter--a Democrat-- said let us put together a Superfund tax where the corporations, the businesses which are polluting businesses, will pay a tax to pay for the cleanup of the mess left from this industrial work.”