Wayne Gilchrest: “Late in the 1500's we all remember Galileo, and he said at that time he was trying to educate people that the sun was…”

“Late in the 1500's we all remember Galileo, and he said at that time he was trying to educate people that the sun was the center of the solar system. Well the Pope heard that, Pope Urban VIII, the head of the early Roman Empire, and he said, if Galileo repeats that comment, the sun is the center of the solar system, he will have his arms and legs dislocated. Mr. Chairman, I want to put everybody's mind at ease. I do not fear that my arms will be dislocated by making a comment about the provision in this Clean Water Act taking away wetlands, but by the Pope telling that to Galileo it made no difference. The sun was still the center of the solar system. In this legislation this will not be a wetland. Now we can say anything we want about wetlands. We can describe them any way we want to describe them. But that does not change the way nature works, and this type of filtration system is absolutely essential if we are going to have any productive coastal fishery, if we are going to have any clean water. This, my colleagues, regardless of what the bill says, is a wetland.”