[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 10 (Thursday, January 16, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H1217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CLEAN WATER IS A PRIORITY

  (Mrs. CAPITO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Speaker, for a week now, residents across the 
Kanawha Valley have been told not to use their tap water for any 
purpose. Businesses and schools have been closed for over a week. While 
things are returning to normal for some residents, tens of thousands of 
residents of West Virginia remain under a do-not-use water order due to 
a chemical leak from Freedom Industries into the Elk River which is 
upstream from the public water system, our water system.
  For more than two decades, no government agency inspected this 
facility. Precious response time was lost because Freedom Industries 
did not immediately report the spill, and responders did not have 
sufficient information about the chemical.
  We must examine our existing laws at all levels of government--local, 
State, and Federal--and find the gaps that allowed this spill to occur.
  At my request, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee 
will hold a hearing in Charleston to examine the causes of the spill, 
the response, and the actions that should be taken.
  I want to thank the West Virginia National Guard, the West Virginia 
Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, first responders, and many, many 
West Virginians and volunteers across the State, along with our 
neighbors from neighboring States. But West Virginians were just 
amazing. We joined together to meet this challenge and have exemplified 
once again that Mountaineer spirit which we are very well known for.

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