Political Quotes

“The State permit program must incorporate minimum requirements which are based on regulations promulgated by the EPA to ``protect human health and the environment,'' which include groundwater monitoring of all structures, fugitive dust control, structural stability requirements and closure of structures that cannot be corrected. The premise of this is, if you have Federal standards, that they're not protective, and that the States will not do that. We find this debate very curious, in that my colleagues on the other side have so much of a disrespect for the States and their environmental communities and the ability of States to ensure the protection of human health, the environment from a State position, Federal standards, State certification process, States. Under RCRA, the States do this anyway. This is what the States do. Under the Municipal Solid Waste Disposal Act, the States are the ones who are enforcing this. All we're doing is saying we can do this now for fly ash and coal ash. So while my colleague's amendment is well-intentioned, it really undercuts the purpose of the legislation and is unnecessary because the bill contains specific criteria by which the EPA will judge State permit programs, and I listed those earlier.…”