Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee and the chair and ranking member of the Interior Subcommittee. Mr. Chair, today I rise to highlight the importance of the EPA's Superfund Enforcement program. Around the country, communities are being put at risk by those who do not responsibly handle the waste that they actually create, and it can result in years of ongoing damage, which leads to health complications and environmental degradation. The Superfund Enforcement program at the EPA was granted authority under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or CERCLA, to enforce environmental cleanup laws that bring habitats and communities back from the brink in places where pollutants have seeped into the ground. One of the Superfund sites in my State is the Hanford site, which is a decommissioned nuclear production complex next to the Columbia River. It was established as part of the Manhattan Project in 1943, and it was the location of the first full-scale plutonium production reactor. The site is massive, and its legacy not only includes its devastating role in World War II but also the environmental impacts in central Washington and beyond. {time} 2230 The EPA has referred to the Columbia River as the ``lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest,'' and they are right. And it is why it is so crucial that we at the Federal Government do everything we can to clean up Hanford.…”