Jerry Nadler: “the fundamental question in this amendment is twofold. One, do we not believe, do we recognize that the water quality…”

“the fundamental question in this amendment is twofold. One, do we not believe, do we recognize that the water quality standards are not, first of all, an issue only with respect to one State? Rivers flow through several States. It is not simply the case that a decision on the quality of water only affects necessarily that one State. When one State decides to permit pollution to continue because it thinks it is too expensive, the costs outweigh the benefits, that will affect the next State the river runs through. This is not simply something that we can keep within one State. Second, it is not simply a question of do we trust the States? We know that the States are subject to pressures that exceed what the Federal Government is exposed to. We know that the polluting businesses have a major way, a major leverage over the State to tell the State, You had better give us this ability to keep polluting. Do not make us spend this money or move to the other State. That does not mean the State officials necessarily agree that it is better to let the pollution continue. But they might agree that they have no choice but to submit to this ultimatum and say, We will let you continue polluting. We will lower the water quality standards because we do not want to lose the jobs and the taxes.”