Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, as amended by the Energy and Commerce Committee. This legislation will establish a centralized, Federal electronic manifest system for tracking hazardous waste for both the Federal Government and the States, and will pay for it through the collection of user fees. Protecting the public from hazardous waste is certainly a critical mission of the Department of Transportation and the EPA. Both departments, in coordination with industry and State agencies, have been vigilant in the treatment and transport of hazardous waste because of the safeguards established by the hazardous waste manifest system. Paper manifests provide shipping information to help with the tracking of potentially dangerous materials and information about the contents of each shipment for emergency responders. The requirements of the current system were established over 30 years ago. Since 2001, the EPA has proposed a nearly paperless manifest system, which would reduce the financial burden of paperwork on States and the industry. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson described the adoption of an electronic system for manifests as ``an investment in modernizing the system that will pay off in efficiency later.'' That is why this legislation has wide support from hazardous waste generators, shippers, and processors, in that it reduces administrative and paperwork burdens.…”