Political Quotes

“Pretty simply put, this bill is about addressing the single largest source of water pollution in America, which is stormwater runoff. It is a nationwide issue from D.C., to Los Angeles, to Milwaukee, to Louisiana. But it is also one that is acutely felt in my home State of Washington, because there, it really does rain a lot. When that rain falls, the rain runs off the roofs. The rain runs down the streets. The rain runs into the storm drainage system. Along the way, it picks up all sorts of nasty, toxic stuff that has been alluded to earlier, stuff like fertilizers, metals, oils, and pesticides. That stuff, all that bad stuff, runs into our lakes and our rivers and, ultimately, in my region of the country, into Puget Sound, which is the largest estuary, by water volume, in the United States. It has been estimated by scientists that stormwater accounts for up to 80 percent of all water pollution. Gone are the days of the easy-fix solutions of point-source pollution, where we could just pass a law saying: You can't do that anymore. Figure it out. This is a lot more difficult. It is a lot more decentralized. It is a lot more pervasive. Frankly, it is no less harmful. And it hurts not just our environment. Let's be clear, this hurts our businesses as well, especially those that depend on clean water. In our State, we have a robust shellfish industry that employs thousands of people. Stormwater can kill a salmon in a matter of hours.…”