Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, this amendment would prohibit funding to implement, administer, or enforce the draft technical report, entitled, ``Protecting Aquatic Life from Effects of Hydrologic Alteration,'' published by the EPA and by the USGS on March 1, 2016. This draft technical report is not a policy. It is not guidance. It is not a criteria document. It shows no advocacy. It doesn't require States to do anything. This technical document provides information to help States and tribes and territories and water resource managers and other stakeholders actually understand how water flows impact water quality, and it gives examples of what some States have chosen to do to address flow concerns. The EPA and the USGS collaborated to develop this report in response to State and EPA regional requests. The draft report had a 105-day comment period, which closed on June 17, 2016, and it received more than 100 submissions from Federal and State partners, watershed groups, mining and farming associations, and other highly engaged stakeholders. Now that the comment period has ended, the EPA and the USGS will consider the comments and revise the document and then publish a final document, which will serve as a source of technical information for States, tribes, territories, and other stakeholders. Why would we prohibit producing a resource document?…”