[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 50 (Friday, April 22, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            COMMEMORATING THE 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF EARTH DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 21, 2005

  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 35th anniversary of 
Earth Day.
  I have seen first hand the damage that environmental injustices bring 
to poor and underserved communities. Growing up in Los Angeles County, 
my community was plagued by bad air and industrial wasteland. In Los 
Angeles, 60 percent of the facilities that produce the most toxic waste 
are located in minority and low-income communities. My predominantly 
Latino district is spoiled by dozens of abandoned gas stations with 
leaking fuel tanks, four Superfund sites, 17 gravel pits, and one of 
the country's most polluted watersheds.
  The environmental issues I focus on all have one thing in common--
they directly affect our health. As a public servant, one of my goals 
is to make sure that our environment is protected, restored, and most 
importantly, safe for our families, wherever they live.
  Since he first took office in 2001, President Bush's policies have 
hurt our health, worsened our air quality, and destroyed the quality of 
our drinking water. Worse, President Bush refuses to make polluters pay 
for the cleanup of these sites at all, and the cleanups that are 
occurring are being paid for by the taxpayers.
  The administration's misguided policies, like Clear Skies, will 
worsen our air quality, increasing asthma, bronchitis and lost days at 
work across the country. This policy will do nothing to help and 
everything to harm the over 70 percent of all Latinos and African 
Americans who live in counties that violate federal air pollution 
standards. As a result, the 35,000 cases of asthma in the San Gabriel 
Valley will increase, and there will be 14,000 more lost days of work 
and 175 more cases of bronchitis in Los Angeles County.
  As we observe Earth Day 2005, it is critical that we continue to 
fight to make sure future generations are healthy, their air quality is 
safe and they have a secure supply of drinking water.

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