Frank Pallone: “The Delaware River Basin Commission is made up of representatives from the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware…”

“The Delaware River Basin Commission is made up of representatives from the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and my home State of New Jersey. The commission oversees drinking water quality for the Delaware River Watershed, a vitally important role that impacts millions of people across four States. Congress created the commission over 60 years ago and gave it powers to regulate the Delaware River Watershed. Crucially, each State's democratically elected leaders signed up to join the commission, and each State receives a vote on the commission. Mr. Chairman, 2 years ago, the commission banned fracking in its watershed, and this wasn't a controversial decision. In fact, it was unanimous. It was a 4-0 vote to help protect the public health of the 13 million citizens in the watershed and to preserve the waters themselves. Today, Republicans want to retroactively take away the rights of the citizens of these four States and their elected representatives. They want to take away the powers that Congress gave the commission just because they don't like the outcome. I would suggest this: If you really care about clean rivers and waters, I urge you to oppose this amendment. If you care about people's rights to safe drinking water, I urge you to oppose this amendment. I would like to think that all my colleagues care about these things, so I urge opposition to the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time. {time} 1700”