Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding. I appreciate all the comments and the support, especially the sympathy and, really, unity with the people of my hometown of Flint. I do want to ensure, though, that we are properly characterizing the legislation, its reasoning, and its impact. The legislation would actually not just require EPA to provide notice, but would require the local jurisdiction, the State agency, to provide them with the opportunity to do what they should do anyway, that is, to provide notice. Absent their willingness to do so, the EPA would then be required. It is an important distinction because, in this case, the State of Michigan has primacy in enforcement of these rules. The EPA in the case of Flint did take action when they learned of the elevated lead levels. The action was to repeatedly reach out to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and insist that they enforce the lead and copper rule. Actually, they went so far as to insist that they initiate corrosion control, which is the mechanism by which lead leaching would have been prevented. {time} 1300 Not only did the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality fail to act, they actually told the EPA almost a year ago that they actually had initiated corrosion control when they had not. I think it would be a mistake to create some sort of equivalency between the role of the EPA and the role of the State of Michigan in this.…”