Joni Ernst Quotes

The EPA has performed a very important role for us all.

As congressional Republicans and the Trump administration continue to attack the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it came as no surprise that the House voted on two bills that would weaken emissions standards and, as a result, put our public health at risk.

I don't need a strong EPA. I don't need to fund a lot of money there.

One of the first laws against air pollution came in 1300 when King Edward I decreed the death penalty for burning of coal. At least one execution for that offense is recorded. But economics triumphed over health considerations, and air pollution became an appalling problem in England.

To forget that the EPA was borne out of public demand is to invite a real backlash.

There is a reason and a need to have an Environmental Protection Agency.

The E.P.A. is too important to treat like a reality TV show. People's lives and our country's resources are at stake.

It's a sad day when a cartoon is doing more and cares more and pays more attention to the environment than our president.

Sanctions against polluters are feeble and out of date, and are rarely invoked.

We must strictly enforce the Environmental Law, closing down the polluters that fail to meet the standards.

Regulations have certainly gone too far in a number of areas, but it's important to remember that regulations are meant to be protective, and when it comes to the EPA, that means protecting human health and our world.

EPA can and should now focus on getting real results in the fight for clean air, land, and water.

Prediction is a mug's game, but taking the side of water polluters has not been a winning political strategy for 50 years. Presidents Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II all undertook to weaken water regulations in the name of economic growth. They left office; the regulations remained.

You name it - it is something every day from the Environmental Protection Agency, and every group I talk to is the same message: 'Please stop them. Please stop.'

Doing nothing to stop national parks being drilled for oil isn't what climate leadership looks like.

The climate issue is for the state. It is an obligation for all governments.

The Obama administration and its allies, such as the Sierra Club, tried to kill coal because of their obsession with global warming.

Californians want to have clean air, clean water - not like the Trump Administration is trying to do with its rollback of environmental regulations, like the reversal of the Clean Power Plan.

Even the government understands that the environmental challenge is so big that no single agency can handle it. It needs collaboration among all the stakeholders - companies, governments, NGOs and the public. Public accountability will be the ultimate driving force.

Since the day he came into office, President Bush has worked to gut more than 34 years of hard work by weakening many of our Nation's standing environmental laws, some of which were signed into law by his father.

Way back in 2000, the EPA was poised, and, in fact, had drafted a rule, to specially regulate pollution - water pollution and other types of pollution - from power plants, but the energy industry pushed back pretty significantly.

The environment issue is hydra-headed and complicated, but it is of immense importance that we understand how fast the world is changing.

Here are the facts we confront. No one is against conservation. No one is against alternative fuel sources.

Everyone wants clean air and clean water, but my hope is that we will not regulate it to the point where we drive businesses and industries out of this country, to the point where entrepreneurs cannot start or expand their businesses because they simply can't afford to do so.

In the future, officials will feel more pressure to protect the environment. But how to assess the officials' efforts to protect the environment is still a pivotal issue.