Jeff Merkley

We need to move from being laggards to leaders.

So what about the water bottles that we buy in the store?

But certainly, one of the challenges we have is all the other plastics degrade and have a huge impact that aren't touching food as they become microplastics, as they release chemicals over time.

I appreciate your work and partnership over these last 2 years as we have examined a number of issues important to people here in the United States.

Everything you just described falls into two categories. One is demand, and the other is supply.

Good morning. Welcome to the final hearing of the Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight in the 117th Congress.

Absolutely, I am concerned about these things.

Senator Merkley's bill, the Break Free from Plastics Act, includes several policies that are designed to help reduce plastic pollution.

So you support full disclosure of all the chemicals that go into the plastics that go into the public realm?

Endocrine disrupting compounds, which Senator Merkley mentioned, are a key part of the story.

The river is just choked with plastic.

Plastic recycling is essentially phony.

Now, we are looking at another issue, the issue of plastics.

We will continue to work on it.

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. There being no objection, the Senate, at 6:52 p.m., adjourned until Tuesday, November 15, 2022, at 11 a.m…

Senator Merkley championed increased funding within PL- 566 for Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations.

If we do nothing, if we don't have this bill, is it fair to say that very few remediation projects will take place?

Ultimately the beauty of this bill is that it is 15 pilots over 7 years.

Senator, I think it goes back to something I suggested earlier. The Clean Water Act and CERCLA are two of our most important environmental laws.

The liability relief that Good Samaritans want is something that we support and want to work to make sure that any bill that passes gives that liability relief but also really protects water and communities on the ground.

Thank you very much, Senator Kelly. Thank you for your hard work to address this really critical challenge.

This is not protection for kind of going in and re-mining, but this is truly about cleanup.

The stream that ran through that village was completely dead, no fish, nothing lived in it.

So I would hope that inaction is not an option.

There is a critical need for us to address these abandoned mines, to clean them up, to stop them from polluting our waters.