[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 101 (Friday, July 24, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1437]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        WAXMAN AMENDMENT REMARKS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. CHARLES E. SCHUMER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 23, 1998

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Waxman amendment.
  The Hudson River is drowning and we need to throw it a life jacket.
  It is time to put an end to Congress's interference in the cleaning 
up of our communities and eliminate the alarming language attached to 
the VA-HUD appropriations report that will suffocate public health and 
bulldoze environmental protections.
  It is time to demand of our federal government that they not kowtow 
to big companies like General Electric, big companies who need to start 
taking responsibility for the deleterious effect their factories are 
having on our society.
  The Hudson River is now contaminated with toxic PCBs--one of the most 
harmful pollutants known, in large part because General Electric and 
other companies allowed these dangerous poisons to seep into our 
waterways.
  General Electric maintains that the PCBs are entombed under silt--
that the river is cleaning itself. Today there is new evidence that the 
situation is worse than our worst nightmare. PCBs are escaping from the 
sediments in the Hudson River and are being carried downstream and 
settling in other parts of the river contaminating more and more fish 
and more and more people.
  The New York regional administrator of the EPA stated today that 
``the fact that these PCBs are so rapidly reentering the river system 
is startling. Given what we know about the health risks of eating 
contaminated fish, this information is even more startling.''
  Based upon all of the evidence, the EPA is convinced, and so am I, 
that PCB contamination is a significant threat to public health and the 
environment.
  How much more evidence do we need? How many more experts need to tell 
us that something needs to be done? How many more New Yorkers need to 
suffer from immediate and long-term health problems posed by toxic PCB 
pollution?
  Mr. Chairman, we need to dredge the polluted waters of the Hudson and 
we need to do it now. New York City is built on islands surrounding 
water, water which cannot be utilized to its fullest potential because 
of the lethal levels of contaminants. We need to seize this moment and 
make a last ditch effort to clean up the Hudson River waterfront and 
make it the jewel it once was.
  It is imperative that the Hudson not be sent down the river and New 
Yorkers not be forced to walk the plank.
  Support the Waxman amendment. Eliminate these dangerous riders.

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