Vernon Ehlers: “I am very proud of our system of free enterprise in America. It has led to a considerable amount of innovation in every…”

“I am very proud of our system of free enterprise in America. It has led to a considerable amount of innovation in every area. But I find, surprisingly, once in a while tradition trumps innovation, and that is the situation that we have here with green chemistry. I commend the gentleman from Georgia for offering this bill because, frankly, we have to wake up the chemical industry to this promising new field and overcome the tradition and take up the ideas of green chemistry. In all the experience I have in viewing the cases where it has been used, we have had better products, less pollution, and the manufacturers make more money. There is no reason not to do it. It is just that we simply have to use innovation to break tradition. So, Mr. Speaker, while the full potential of green chemistry has yet to be realized, H.R. 1215 will place us on the right path to reaching that potential. I urge all my colleagues to support the Green Chemistry Research and Development Act.”