[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 84 (Friday, May 19, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1083]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       H.R. 961: WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE, BUT NOT A DROP TO DRINK

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                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 18, 1995
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, the House of 
Representatives approved H.R. 961, a revision of the Clean Water Act 
that will for the first time in decades help make the Nation's water 
dirtier rather than cleaner. I strongly and emphatically opposed this 
legislation. Sometimes you show what you stand for by what you vote 
against. This is one of those times.
  The provisions of H.R. 961 seem to indicate that the new majority has 
a case of special interest amnesia. Just because a few corporate 
polluters claim they're overregulated. So the majority willingly 
forgets the days when our rivers burned, when fish and wildlife floated 
dead in out lakes and streams, and when our drinking water was in 
imminent danger of contamination.
  More than 20 years ago, the Clean Water Act began to remedy that 
situation. But this week, the new majority voted to gut that landmark 
law.
  Mr. Speaker, the implications of this legislation are especially grim 
for New York City. Thanks to the original Clean Water Act and the Safe 
Drinking Water Act, New York City's water supply needs no additional 
purification, a remarkable accomplishment for the largest city in the 
Nation. But the weakened standards in H.R. 961 on pollution runoff will 
severely jeopardize the drinking water of the more than 8 million 
people who live in New York City. The cost to New Yorkers to create a 
water purification system that we have never needed is estimated at 
more than $10 billion.
  Second, just as New York City is about to achieve, at great expense, 
secondary treatment at all of its sewage treatment plants--including 
the large Newtown Creek Water Pollution Control Plant located in my 
district--H.R. 961 relaxes the basic Clean Water Act permitting system 
to allow more toxic discharges of industrial and sewage waste into New 
York Harbor. This will not only roll back years of success in making 
New York Harbor cleaner and safer, but will also negatively impact 
bodies of water near cities all over the Nation.
  Third, dredging and disposal of toxic contaminated sediments will be 
expanded, with far less consideration of health and environmental 
impacts. This will make it harder to protect the thousands of people 
who swim and fish in New York Harbor from the negative impacts of 
ongoing dredging projects in New York Harbor.
  When is the new majority going to realize that some Government 
regulations actually do some good? Will we have to wait until we all 
have to drink from and bathe in bottled water before that realization 
occurs? I hope not.
  But this week, the new majority isn't just throwing out the baby with 
the bathwater. They're throwing out the drinking water, too.
  I hope that as this bill goes to the Senate and to the conference 
committee, that my colleagues will think about what we drink. I hope 
that we will not lose this chance to pass a bill that truly deserves 
the title, ``Clean Water Act.''


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