Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the CLEAR Act of 2010 to respond to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Chairman, one of the many important provisions of this bill requires the EPA to do a new rulemaking procedure to establish baseline levels of toxicity and effectiveness that takes into account a study of the acute and chronic risks posed by the use of toxic dispersants. Quite simply, the EPA must determine whether or not it's safe to use these dispersants. Not just which dispersant is the safest, but whether or not they're safe at all. I offered an amendment in the Transportation Committee to ban the use of these toxic dispersants until the rulemaking and study in the bill determine they are safe. I am very pleased that my amendment is included in the final bill before us today and I thank Chairman Oberstar for his support. The fact is that nobody today can guarantee that dispersants are safe. The only thing dispersants seem to do is push the oil below the surface, making it harder to see the damage and determine liability and making it harder to boom and skim the oil off the surface. The only benefit seems to be for PR purposes. Dispersants simply shift the oil to another part of the ecosystem while increasing the toxins in the gulf harming marine life and contaminating the water column.…”