Political Quotes

“Thank you. I want to talk a little bit about the Clean Air Act, Mr. Chair. We have power plants that are coal-burning and emit toxins into the air. That's not in dispute. But the attack on any kind of regulation says that if there's any expense associated with providing health and safety to the people downwind of the polluting emitting power plants, they're on their own. They've got to breathe that air, and it's their problem. Now, I live in Vermont; and the coal-burning plants, the air all comes and falls in Vermont. The Clean Air Act has had tremendous success in actually cleaning up some of these power plants. Now, of course there's some expense associated with burning clean; but there's also, as you know, Mr. Chair, an enormous cost associated with burning dirty. It may be cheaper for the power plant owner, and it might even be cheaper for the electricity users of that power plant; but the costs associated with the health, the safety, the environmental impacts are simply off-loaded by the polluter on to the innocent members of society who are downwind of the mercury-spewing polluting plants. So, sure, we can have some debate about what should be the proper expense. But should we really have a debate that it is illegitimate for the Federal Government to take actions, regulatory and legislative, that protect the health and safety of innocent people?…”