Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, one of the areas that I am most deeply concerned about in the course of our dealing with the Department of Defense deals with the consequences of military activity over the course of the last 2 centuries. Unfortunately, we have left a legacy of unexploded ordnance, toxic waste that is involved from border to border, from coast to coast. It is in every State and virtually every congressional district. Unexploded ordnance, UXO, as we talk about it, is left over from military training exercises at some 2,000 formerly used defense sites and closed bases in every State; and in fact, we really do not have an inventory of actually how many millions of acres; it may be 10 million, it may be 50 million. These sites include bombing ranges, testing facilities that were once located in underpopulated areas. However, we find that, today, distance is no longer a protective factor; and sites are now often bordered by housing developments or schools or contained within parks and other public lands.”