Contaminated water is not a problem limited to Flint. Think of New Jersey, where school fountains were found to contain unsafe levels of lead. Or the EPA's 33,000 superfund sites, which are highly-polluted areas that require long-term clean-up operations. The problem is so large that it feels insurmountable.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Congress distributed more than $60 billion to cities to make sure that what goes into toilets, industrial drains and street grates would not endanger human health.
Americans are willing to cheer on politicians who denounce bureaucratic overreach and job-killing red tape in abstract terms. But they turn out to like specific regulations against toxic chemicals in their drinking water.
In celebration of this Earth Day, I encourage all Members of the House to support legislation aimed at investing in the improvement of water quality in our Nation's lakes, rivers, streams and estuaries.
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.
One goal of the Clean Water Act of 1972 was to upgrade the nation's sewer systems, many of them built more than a century ago, to handle growing populations and increasing runoff of rainwater and waste.
I'm a fervent foe of water pollution, whether it is our own Hudson River or Philadelphia's tap water.
The Fishable Waters Act shares the same intent of the Clean Water Act by proposing to fulfill goals that have not yet been met to restore and maintain the biological integrity of the nation's waters. The intent of the bill is to enhance the Clean Water Act instead of undercutting it.
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.
As utility companies work to achieve full compliance with clean water standards, Congress must ensure our nation's most vulnerable are not priced out of life's most essential resource.
The EPA has performed a very important role for us all.
No Minnesotan should ever experience preventable health risks from breathing polluted air or from drinking unsafe water.
The EPA has no legal authority to expand the definition of navigable waters under the Clean Water Act, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear.
Let's shut down the EPA.
