Political Quotes

“I would like to continue the debate on the measure before the Senate, which is to basically overturn a provision that would require coal polluters to make sure they clean up the damage they do to the clean water streams of our Nation. We are here today because the agency who is in charge of setting these rules has finalized a rule. They did so after more than 5 years of discussion. They set it because there was so much scientific information about the great degradation to our streams caused by mining, when rocks are blown up and selenium is introduced into the stream. I have pictures I showed last night of deformed fish, pictures of river streams that are polluted. I have pictures of obvious degradation of the environment around them. The real issue is, the rule is now in place, and my colleagues want to exempt the coal industry from such regulation. Why would you want to exempt anybody from cleaning up their mess? Polluters should pay. I know my colleagues are starting to chorus on some refrain about the economy, which makes no sense. Natural gas has driven a very competitive market to consuming more natural gas than coal, and Wall Street blew up the pension program of the miners, and now it is in jeopardy. If you want to help miners, then come address their health and safety and their pension program. If you want to make natural gas more expensive, maybe you could make coal competitive again, but I don't think that is what we really want in America.…”