Political Quotes

“I take this time to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day that we celebrate today, April 22. I think we first need to acknowledge that we have made a lot of progress since the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire in 1969. We have made a lot of progress since the uncontrolled air pollution that killed 20 people and sickened 7,000 people over just a few days. That happened in Donora, PA. We have came a long way since the expose on the New York Love Canal, where toxic waste was dumped into neighborhood streams. We have made a lot of progress. I think the most important symbol of that progress is that the environment is now in mainstream America. It is mainstream politics. It is a way of life for us, and that is really good news. It has given us the political strength to pass important environmental laws. We passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Superfund law. I am particularly pleased about the Chesapeake Bay Program. I remember when we started that program almost 30 years ago. It was a difficult start, and people wondered whether we would have the power to stay with this issue so that we could try to reclaim the Chesapeake Bay. Well, we did. It is still an issue we are working on today. We created the Environmental Protection Agency, an agency in the Federal Government with the sole purpose to try to help us preserve the environment for future generations. I think we can take pride in what we have been able to do.”