[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 63 (Friday, May 19, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E900]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007

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                               speech of

                         HON. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 18, 2006

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5386) making 
     appropriations for the Department of the Interior, 
     environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2007, and for other purposes:

  Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment to 
protect clean water. For more than three decades, the Clean Water Act 
has been protecting all of our Nation's waters from unregulated 
pollution, filling and destruction.
  However, in May 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
finalized a rule that changed the definition of ``fill material'' for 
both the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The new 
definition allows waste to be used to fill streams, wetlands and other 
waters.
  Allowing coal mining spoil and other types of waste material to be 
dumped into our waters and wetlands is contrary to the central goal of 
the Clean Water Act: preserving physical, chemical and biological 
integrity of the Nation's waters.
  While there may be a need for some regulatory changes so that the 
Corps and EPA use consistent definitions of ``fill'' material, this can 
and should be accomplished by ensuring that both agencies' definitions 
explicitly exclude the use of wastes to fill our Nation's waters--not, 
as proposed, to weaken the Corps' regulations to sanction this long-
prohibited practice.

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