Political Quotes

“I thank the very distinguished gentleman, the ranking member on Energy and Commerce. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this motion to instruct conferees to include the Coal Residuals and Reuse Management Act into any final conference agreement on the surface transportation authorization bill. The bill my colleague seeks to include in the surface transportation bill is bad policy. It has nothing to do with transportation, and it would place communities living downstream from coal ash ponds in real danger. When properly recycled, coal ash and other residuals from burning coal do have economic value--that's not the issue here, but managed improperly, they can be extremely hazardous. Coal ash shouldn't be dumped in unregulated ponds to contaminate water and spill into nearby streams and rivers. In 2008, as Mr. Rush pointed to, the Kingston fossil plant in Tennessee failed to properly maintain its coal ash impoundment pond. The pond collapsed, and it dumped 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash slurry into the Clinch River and inundated several houses with up to six feet of ash and mud. And then when they independently tested the Clinch River after the Tennessee Valley Authority impoundment collapse, it showed high levels of arsenic, copper, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel, and thallium all related to that spill. The spill contaminated the water, it killed the fish, and it destroyed property.…”