Political Quotes

“Under the Clean Air Act, section 319 provides relief to areas that violate National Ambient Air Quality Standards due to unusual or naturally occurring events as that they cannot control. Section 3(h) would add--and I would argue strengthens the definition--droughts and extraordinary stagnation to the act's definition of an exceptional event. Let me give you an example. In 2012, there was a major drought in the Midwest. Now, I am from corn country, and we don't irrigate our corn because we have got great soil, and we have got weather conditions for most of the years that provide plentiful rain for that to happen. But that didn't happen in 2012. It was an extraordinary event. It was a drought. Now the question is posed: Should we punish the communities for an extraordinary event; i.e., a drought that is out of the control of any human being? It is an ``extraordinary event.'' This language would provide reasonable relief for States in this condition, particularly those in the Western United States for, as I said, events beyond their control. Nothing in H.R. 806 does away with the detailed statutory requirements under section 319(h) of the Clean Air Act for demonstrating ``an exceptional event.'' Nor does anything in the bill do away with the detailed regulatory procedures and guidelines that the EPA has laid out for demonstrating exceptional events or the requirements to measure air quality or to make that air quality data available to the public.…”