Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding. Madam Chair, I rise in strong opposition to the gentleman's amendment. Superfund is a landmark environmental law and an essential public health program that works. There are contaminated sites all across this country that pose direct threats to human health and the environment because of pollutants like lead, mercury, PCBs, and asbestos. Superfund is the program that gets those sites cleaned up. Superfund does not regulate the use of chemicals; it does not block the use of chemicals; and it does not assign liability for the use of chemicals. It only applies to the release of chemicals into the environment. Some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have characterized Superfund as a de facto ban. They say that the industry will so fear liability that they will abandon PFAS chemicals. Experience shows that that simply is not true. There are hundreds of chemicals listed under Superfund that continue to be used in industrial and consumer products and by the Department of Defense. In fact, Superfund is designed to prevent releases of chemicals that are in continued use. When a chemical is listed as a hazardous air pollutant under the Clean Air Act, EPA sets emission limits for that chemical that are implemented through permits. Facilities continue to use and emit those chemicals. At the same time, those chemicals are automatically listed under Superfund. The same is true under the Clean Water Act.…”