[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14391-14392]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             POTABLE WATER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Quigley) for 5 minutes.

[[Page 14392]]


  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, just last month, hundreds of thousands of 
residents in Toledo, Ohio, were left without access to potable water 
and faced an extended drinking water ban, after unsafe toxin levels, 
likely caused by a Lake Erie algal bloom, were found at a city water 
treatment plant. In January, Charleston, West Virginia, residents faced 
a similar ban on their drinking water after a chemical spill.
  George Bernard Shaw once said:

       Success does not consist in never making mistakes, but in 
     never making the same one a second time.

  One would think, after two new incidents that left hundreds of 
thousands of Americans without access to clean drinking water, this 
body would jump into action to prevent this from ever happening again. 
And yet, Mr. Speaker, the House hasn't only refused to act, yesterday 
we actually voted to prevent the administration from acting.
  Again and again my colleagues continue to introduce bills and riders 
that would endanger our drinking water while ignoring basic scientific 
principles in the process. Today more than 117 million Americans get 
their drinking water from systems that rely on rivers, streams, and 
wetlands which, at this very moment, are not clearly protected under 
the Clean Water Act. Let me say that again: 117 million Americans are 
getting their drinking water from bodies of water that may not be 
protected from pollution or destruction.
  American families deserve clarity, and that is exactly what the 
administration is trying to provide with their proposed Clean Water Act 
rule; and, unbelievably enough, that is exactly what the House voted to 
prevent yesterday.
  For years we relied on the Clean Water Act to protect the Nation's 
waters. For my constituents back home in Chicago, that meant everything 
from the wetlands on the shores of Lake Michigan to the inland streams 
that flow across the Great Lakes region. But two Supreme Court 
decisions in 2001 and 2006 changed all that, leaving us with a 
confusing, time-consuming, and frustrating process for determining 
which of the Nation's waters are now protected under Federal law and 
which are not.
  It is imperative that we close what has become a harmful loophole, 
and that is what the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are trying to 
do with their proposed rule clarifying the scope of the Clean Water 
Act.
  Let's be clear: The EPA and the Corps of Engineers are acting within 
the authority granted them by Congress under the Clean Water Act to 
legally clarify the statute's jurisdiction. This clarity is desperately 
needed, especially in the Great Lakes Basin. Half the streams in the 
Greats Lakes States lack clear water protection simply because they do 
not all flow all year.
  This lack of protection has taken its toll, slowing permitting 
decisions for responsible development and reducing protections for 
drinking water supplies and critical habitats. The EPA and Army Corps' 
proposed rule would restore Clean Water Act protections to wetlands and 
tributary streams because the science clearly shows that these water 
bodies are connected.
  Before proposing its rule, the EPA analyzed more than 1,000 peer-
reviewed scientific articles, and the findings are irrefutable. 
Tributary streams and wetlands are clearly connected to downstream 
waters. Pollution is carried down the river, polluting bigger and 
bigger waterways.
  Healthy wetlands improve water quality by filtering polluted runoff 
from farm fields and city streets that otherwise would flow into 
rivers, streams, and great water bodies across the country. Wetlands 
and tributaries provide vital habitat to wildlife, waterfowl and fish, 
reduce flooding, and replenish groundwater supplies.
  We cannot protect and restore the Great Lakes and our drinking water 
supplies without first protecting and restoring the wetlands and 
upstream waters that feed into them. Congress passed the Clean Water 
Act with the intention of protecting our waterways, and that is what it 
did for almost 30 years. Now this administration is trying to bring 
back these protections this House has undermined.
  Let's not make the same mistake twice. Let's let the experts do their 
job.

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