Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, my amendment simply prohibits the EPA from using the Chesapeake Bay total maximum daily load and the Watershed Implementation Plans to take over States' water quality strategies, protecting the 10th Amendment rights of States across the Nation from the heavy hand of the EPA. This amendment makes it clear that Congress intended for the Clean Water Act to be State led, not subject to the whims of politicians and bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. Over the last several years, the EPA has implemented a total maximum daily load plan for the Chesapeake Bay watershed which strictly limits the amount of nutrients that can enter the Chesapeake Bay. While a laudable goal and one I support in principle, through its implementation, the EPA has basically given every State in the watershed an ultimatum--either the State does exactly what the EPA says, or it faces the threat of an EPA takeover of their water quality programs. In some cases, the EPA will even rewrite the States' water quality plans if they disagree with the States' decisions. Mr. Chairman, I want to make it perfectly clear that this amendment would not stop the EPA from working with the States to restore the Chesapeake Bay, nor would it in any way undermine the cleanup efforts already underway.…”