[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 152 (Tuesday, October 9, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2085-E2086]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CELEBRATING THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRIDE--PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN A 
                         DESIRABLE ENVIRONMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HAROLD ROGERS

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 9, 2007

  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, the Appalachian Mountains, the 
Cumberland Lake and River, and red bud trees are just some of the 
natural assets that make southern and eastern Kentucky one of the most 
special places in the world. For many years, however, people who 
visited here could not say it was very special because what they saw 
were dumps, trash, litter, and filthy water.
  These problems, which emerged over decades, were largely due to 
inadequate infrastructure for handling ever-growing amounts of solid 
waste and wastewater. And we had to do something about this problem, or 
else there would be no hope of ever having a clean environment or 
growing the economy.
  In the summer of 1997, the region's elected officials gathered to 
face these problems including a key State official--the late General 
James E. Bickford, the former secretary of Kentucky's environmental 
department. They presented a battle plan for declaring ``war against 
pollution'' in the region. Their vision was to encourage citizens to 
take responsibility for protecting their environment and provide the 
education and resources needed to do so. Their campaign would promote 
PRIDE, or ``Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment.''
  PRIDE has 10 years under its belt and now is a good time to remember 
why this initiative is essential to moving our region forward. People 
understand these days that a clean environment goes hand-in-hand with a 
healthy, vibrant economy.
  Our region's religious, civic and elected leaders look for ways to 
leverage what makes us special--whether that is our mountain heritage, 
red-bud trees, scenic highways, or our pristine rivers. Our region will 
sell itself as long as we continue to show the world what makes us 
special. There is nothing special about trash and pollution. No matter 
how nice a place is, nobody wants to visit places that are polluted and 
littered.
  First impressions count. When people see a natural area or town 
square for the first time, what makes a real impact is how clean a 
place is. For too long, the first impression people had in our area was 
empty bottles and fast food wrappers strewn along the highway, or in 
some cases--abandoned appliances, automobiles, and junk in an otherwise 
pristine natural setting.

[[Page E2086]]

  For those of us who live here, we don't want to live among trash and 
pollution. Our region has turned the corner. We left behind the 
southern and eastern Kentucky of the past--one with stagnant economic 
growth and net outflow of people. We turned it into a region for the 
future--one where business opens its doors and people move in. Simply 
cleaning up a place invites people to stay.
  PRIDE has produced great benefits to the environment. With modern 
wastewater treatment systems, there is no excuse anymore to dump raw 
sewage into our creeks and rivers. PRIDE's sweeping efforts to install 
modern treatment systems enabled our waterways to thrive with plant and 
animal life again. No longer do we have open sewers moving through our 
mountains.
  What I like best about PRIDE is the spirit of volunteerism behind it. 
People caused this litter and pollution problem and now people are 
fixing it. It is an amazing thing to watch what happens when a 
community pulls together towards a common purpose. Ten years ago there 
were skeptics and doubters. Today, many statistics clearly show PRIDE's 
progress over the last 10 years.
  Theodore Roosevelt understood the need to protect our natural 
resources and a short sentence he once said sums up so well the spirit 
of PRIDE today: ``Believe you can and you're halfway there.''
  What a legacy we have built. There are now 27,907 homes with access 
to sanitary wastewater treatment. Nearly 2,500 illegal dumps have been 
eliminated and 500,000 bags of trash have been collected. And the hard 
work of 238,000 volunteers made this happen.
  When we look back 10 years hence, we will see even more progress--a 
region of the country that is free of the pollution and trash that held 
it back. On this 10-year anniversary, we remember the PRIDE volunteers 
and community leaders who believed we could.

                          ____________________