Political Quotes

“I rise once again to address what could very well be one of the greatest ongoing environmental disasters in the United States. I am referring to the billions of gallons of raw sewage, industrial waste, and other pollutants that flow down the Tijuana River and into San Diego's coastal waters. These flows sicken our communities, shutter our local businesses, harm our tourism industry, endanger wildlife, and threaten our servicemembers and Border Patrol agents stationed in San Diego. Just last month, researchers at San Diego State University released a report that shows that this pollution also poses a massive public health threat. The studies they cite reveal extremely troubling findings, like the fact that cancer-causing chemicals banned in the United States decades ago, including DDT and PCBs, have been found in the soil. Waterborne contaminants include viruses like SARS-CoV-2, salmonella, listeria, hep B and C, and pathogens carrying antibiotic-resistant genes. The report cites a recent study of bottlenose dolphins that had become stranded and died in San Diego waters. The dolphins died from sepsis caused by water contaminated by feces. This is the same water our troops train in and our kids swim and surf in. Avoiding the water alone will not make you safe. Air quality monitors that were recently installed in the region have confirmed what residents have known for years, that the air itself is also polluted.…”