Political Quotes

“Jobs, the economy, and public health all are very critical priorities for the American people. It is possible, in fact, to pursue policies that simultaneously protect all three of them. Today we have a balanced approach in the Ozone Standards Implementation Act, and it does exactly that. Addressing ozone levels has been one of the major successes of the 1970 Clean Air Act. Across the country, ozone levels, in fact, have declined dramatically, having declined nearly one-third since 1980. The EPA's 2008 ozone standard would have continued that success by setting out a program to achieve further reductions for many years to come. But the EPA failed to finalize the implementing regs and guidance for the 2008 rule until just last year, and as a result, States are currently still in the process of implementing the rule. Although EPA had difficulty finalizing the 2008 regs, the Agency had no such problems coming up with a new ozone standard so unworkable for certain areas of the country that even the Agency itself concedes the technologies to fully implement and to comply still don't exist. And now, States are stuck with the impossible task of applying both standards concurrently. In my district in southwest Michigan, in Allegan County, you could, in fact, remove every piece of human activity--roads, barbecues, jobs, move everybody out--and the region still would be in nonattainment because of the ozone that is generated from Chicago, Milwaukee, and Gary, Indiana.…”