Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, this amendment goes to the heart of the ability of cities to meet their obligations to clean up the Nation's waterways. At the very start of the Clean Water Act in 1956, my predecessor, John Plotnik, took on the daunting task, and then formidable and incredible task, of crafting legislation to clean up the Nation's waterways which are in a despicable state. He recognized that at the end of all the laws and all the discussions we have to have funds to cities and States to build sewage treatment plants to clean up their effluent, an incentive. A partnership was struck between the Federal Government, and municipalities and the States, and that partnership has grown, and it has worked extraordinarily well. Over the years of construction, of the construction grant program for the Federal water pollution control program, municipalities have used, in combination with Federal funds, some $75 billion to clean up point sources of discharge. And industry has spent in the range of $130 billion to clean up their responsibility. Together over $205 billion spent in the last 25 years on cleaning up point source discharges to help clean up America's waterways. Most municipalities of large size meet secondary treatment standards, but the unmet needs and the most recent EPA surveys show $137 billion in needs by municipalities to build sewage treatment facilities to clean up those discharges.”