Martin Heinrich: “I want to begin by thanking my colleague the senior Senator from New Mexico Tom Udall for the incredible leadership he…”

“I want to begin by thanking my colleague the senior Senator from New Mexico Tom Udall for the incredible leadership he has shown on this issue. I know it is something near and dear to his heart and something he absolutely and truly cares about. We have had a good team working on this over the course of the last couple of months. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado has been a great contributor to this effort. Congressman Ben Ray Lujan of northern New Mexico has taken a leadership effort on a similar effort in the House, and today we are joined by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon on this legislation as well. As many folks know, in August a large plume of bright orange mine waste spilled into the Animas River, which leads into the San Juan, and polluted the Four Corners region from Colorado to New Mexico and through the Navajo Nation. If you take a look at this photo, which was shared with me by the president and vice president of the Navajo Nation, this is not what you want to see when you look at the river that you take your drinking water from or the river that you use for irrigation or the place you go fishing or recreate and kayak on. This is not how our mountain streams in the Southwest are supposed to look. I think visually this got the attention of people all around the country as to the scope and scale of this problem. After the mine spill, I toured affected communities in New Mexico and the Navajo Nation.…”