Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague from Illinois for being on the floor to speak. He is right. We are going to keep score. There are going to be attempts by the Trump administration and the other side of the aisle to level the score against clean water; that is to say, polluters don't have to pay. So if we pass this override of existing clean water rules--yes, this will be the start. Trump 1, clean water 0. Unfortunately, it is probably not going to the end because what is happening now is, Republicans control everything in Congress. They want to use their ability to have very little debate and to then override rules that are on the books to protect streams in the United States of America. I so appreciate my colleagues coming to the floor to explain this issue, as this is critical. It is critical because the impacts of mining destroy headwaters. Between 1992 and 2000, coal mines were authorized to destroy about 1,200 miles of headwater streams, and this resulted in the loss of 4 percent of our upper headwater streams in areas of Appalachia in a single decade. The surface mining impact on water from fractured rocks above coal seams react chemically with the air and water and produce higher concentrations of minerals, irons and trace metals, and those headwaters in West Virginia typically measure with electricity conductivity on an order of magnitude of those downstream. What that is saying is, these chemicals react in the water to create problems.…”