[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 46 (Thursday, March 16, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H2089]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 RECOGNIZING RESIGNATION OF MUSTAFA ALI

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. McEachin) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McEACHIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Mr. Mustafa 
Ali's 24 years of service to the health and wellness of the American 
people.
  On March 7, Mr. Ali sent his resignation to Administrator Scott 
Pruitt. He resigned from his post as the leader of the Environmental 
Protection Agency's Environmental Justice program.
  For more than 2 decades, Mr. Ali led our Nation's leaders on 
environmental justice in their search for equalizing the playing field 
for vulnerable communities that have been victims of actions that 
threaten their public health and the quality of their air, water, and 
land.
  In his letter, Mr. Ali said, in part:

       Communities of color, low-income communities, and 
     indigenous populations are still struggling to receive equal 
     protections before the law.
       These communities, both rural and urban, often live in 
     areas with toxic levels of air pollution, crumbling or 
     nonexistent water and sewer infrastructure, lead in their 
     drinking water, brownfields from vacant former industrial and 
     commercial sites, Superfund and other hazardous waste sites, 
     as well as other sources of exposures to pollutants.
       Despite the many challenges we face regarding the impacts 
     of pollution and a changing climate, we have just as many 
     effective tools and programs, with long track records of 
     assisting vulnerable communities in meeting their goals of 
     improving public health and enhancing the environmental 
     quality of their local communities.

  Mr. Ali's resignation is a signal for me. In my eyes, a longtime 
soldier in the fight to level the playing field for all Americans to 
live in a clean environment left the Environmental Protection Agency 
because it was no longer welcoming for individuals who want to work 
with facts.
  As we await the President's fiscal year 2018 budget, we need to 
remember how impactful Environmental Justice programs are to our 
constituents' health. Flint is one of the most salient examples of what 
can happen when environmental justice watchdogs are not empowered to do 
their good work.

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