    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [May 30, 1995]
    [Pages 762-765]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Clean Water Legislation
    May 30, 1995

        Thank you very much. This country would be better off if we had a
    few more little old ladies in tennis shoes, don't you think, like Minny
    Pohlmann? [Applause] Thank you, Minny, for your introduction, and more
    importantly, thank you for the many years of work you have done to clean
    up the Potomac and to set an example about responsible environmentalism.
        Secretary Babbitt; Administrator Browner; to the CEQ Chairman, Katie
    McGinty; George Frampton; Bob Stanton; Mike Brown; to Neal Fitzpatrick,
    the conservation director of the Audubon Naturalist Society; and the two
    young people who came up with me, Hannah and Michael--where are they,
    where are the young people who were with me? Thank you very much. And to
    all the schoolchildren who are here--I wish you could have heard what
    they were saying over there as I was looking at some of the species that
    live in this water, because it is still not as pure as it ought to be,
    and reading the sign over there. Have you all read the sign on the
    creek? ``Fish from these waters

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    contain PCB's. Do not eat catfish, carp, or eel from these waters. You
    may eat a half a pound per month of largemouth bass or a half a pound
    per week of sunfish or other fish. Choose to eat younger and smaller
    fish of legal size. Always skin the fish, trim away the fat, and cook so
    that it drains away. The practice of catch and release is encouraged.
    Swimming is prohibited still due to high levels of bacteria.''
        To those who say we have nothing more to do to clean up America's
    waterways, I urge them to come here to Pierce Mill and read the sign. We
    still have a lot of work to do on this, the most simple necessity of our
    lives, water.
        Pierce Mill and this part of Rock Creek Park are very important in
    the history of our country. Teddy Roosevelt used to come here to walk
    and to look at the creek, to get a little exercise. I admire Teddy
    Roosevelt for many reasons, but one of the most important is that he
    taught us the necessity of preserving our natural resources and
    protecting our natural world. He established the National Wildlife
    Refuges. The Forest Service grew in size and vision under his
    leadership. His actions led to the creation of the National Park
    Service, which takes care of this very park. This great Republican
    President taught us that it would be foolhardy and spendthrift to try to
    play politics with our environmental treasures. Caring for our land
    wasn't just for Democrats or just for Republicans, it was an American
    cause and just plain common sense. That was true at the beginning of
    this century when Teddy Roosevelt was President; it's even more true at
    the end of this century as we look toward a new millennium.
        Roosevelt's legacy of nonpartisanship on the environment extended
    throughout most of this century. It was under another Republican
    President, Richard Nixon, that we created the Environmental Protection
    Agency, passed the Clean Water Act, and created the White House Council
    on Environmental Quality.
        For a long time, therefore, Americans have stood as one in saying no
    to things like dirty water and yes to giving our children an environment
    as unspoiled as their hopes and dreams. It is because of this commitment
    on the part of millions of Americans of both parties and all races and
    ethnic backgrounds, people from every region of our country and all
    walks of economic life, that last week you were able to take your
    children--last weekend--to a beach that was clean or a lake that was
    full of fish or a river that was safe to swim in. And that's why I want
    to talk to you about some of the things that are going on now that
    present a threat to that way of life.
        Some Members of the new Congress, operating with major industry
    lobbyists, have come up with a bill that would roll back a quarter-
    century of bipartisan progress in public health and environmental
    protection. The bill would let polluted water back into our lives. It
    would increase the threat of improperly treated sewage being released
    into our waters. The sewage could then wash up on our beaches, maybe on
    the very beach where you taught your children to swim.
        Members of Congress who support this legislation actually have the
    nerve to call their bill the ``Clean Water Act.'' And the House of
    Representatives actually passed it just before the Memorial Day weekend.
    But newspapers all over America are calling it the dirty water act. And
    it won't get past my desk.
        We have worked as one people for 25 years--as one people for 25
    years--across party lines to make our environment safer and cleaner. We
    cannot turn away from it now. There is still more to be done, not less.
        Let me tell you about the true Clean Water Act, the one we have in
    place now, the one I'm going to use the power of the Presidency to
    protect. Every year the real Clean Water Act cleans more than a billion
    pounds of toxic pollutants from our water. Every year it keeps 900
    million tons of sewage out of our rivers, lakes, and streams. In human
    terms, it keeps poisons out of your child's evening bath and bedtime
    glass of water.
        Once a river of ours was so polluted that it actually caught fire.
    Thanks to that act, that doesn't happen anymore. The story used to be
    that if you fell into the Potomac, which this stream runs into, you had
    to go to a doctor and get shots to protect yourself from disease.
    Because of the genuine Clean Water Act, that's on its way to being a
    dark and distant memory. Today, the Potomac has rebounded, and many
    parts of it are safe for fishing and swimming.
        Under the new bill in Congress all this could change. Instead of
    getting progressively cleaner, our water quality would go straight down
    the drain. We've heard all about beaches that have had to be shut down
    because of water waste and syringes on the sand. Some of us have been

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    unlucky enough to have that experience firsthand.
        The House bill would only increase this risk. Under its provisions,
    many coastal cities would be able to dump inadequately treated sewage
    and industrial waste into the ocean, increasing your family's chances of
    finding waste in the water when you're swimming or boating.
        But this fight isn't just about how clean the water is when you're
    on vacation. It's also about the water that you drink every day, the
    water that you bathe in, the water that you use at home, the water that
    keeps you and your children and all of us alive.
        Americans have a right to expect that our water will be the cleanest
    in the world. Clean water is essential to the security our people
    deserve, the safety that comes from knowing that the environment we live
    in won't make us sick. With all the other changes and challenges that
    the American people have to confront in the world today, they sure
    should not have to worry about the quality of their water. That is one
    uncertainty that even in this rapidly changing world we ought to be able
    to remove from every family in the United States of America.
        This House bill would put the cleanliness and safety of our water at
    risk. Industries in our country use roughly 70,000 pollutants,
    chemicals, and other material that can poison water if they're not
    controlled properly. This bill would make it easier for those poisons to
    find their way into our water.
        Current law requires that we use the best achievable technology to
    keep our water clean and safe. Amazingly, the House bill actually says
    we don't need to bother with the best technology; it says that second or
    even third best is good enough. That's crazy. There's no reason on Earth
    why Americans should have to settle for anything less than the best when
    it comes to keeping our water safe and pure.
        Now, here's the part that really gets to me. This bill would also
    postpone, perhaps indefinitely, action against some of the suspected
    sources of cryptosporidium in drinking water. Now, we all remember what
    that is. That's the deadly bacteria that contaminated Milwaukee's water
    supply just 2 years ago. One hundred people died from drinking it;
    thousands more fell ill. For more than a week, the people of Milwaukee
    were terrified to brush their teeth, make coffee, use ice cubes, even
    wash their clothes in their own city's water supply. If you can believe
    it, this bill that passed the House would prevent us from doing
    everything in our power to make sure that this never happens again.
        Who could possibly think up such a bill? Well, the lawyers and the
    lobbyists who represent the polluters who wrote the bill. They were
    invited into the back rooms of what once was your Congress to write a
    bill that provides loopholes for their industries. They want to make it
    possible for their companies to get around the standards that are
    designed to protect us all. If the bill becomes law, that's exactly what
    will happen.
        But it won't. It won't. I am encouraged that some people in the
    Senate on both sides of the political aisle have expressed the gravest
    of reservations about this House bill. But if the special interests
    should get it through the Senate as well in the way that the House
    passed it, I will certainly have no choice but to veto it. And I will do
    it happily and gladly for the quality of water in this country.
        A big part of the American dream goes way beyond economics and has
    to do with the preservation of our liberties and the stewardship of our
    land. This is a part of the American dream. The stories these children
    told me this morning about the dreams they have for clean water and a
    clean environment and growing up in an America where they'll be able to
    take their children to places like Pierce Mill, that's a big part of the
    American dream. A lot of people sacrificed to give us this dream. And we
    shouldn't squander it in a momentary lunge away from common sense and
    the common direction the American people have been taking for a
    generation now.
        Teddy Roosevelt said the Nation behaves well if it treats the
    natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next
    generation, increased and not impaired in value.
        Now, let's get away even from the beauties of the stream. Look at
    this--every time I give a talk they give me one of these--[laughter]--
    because they're afraid I'll get hoarse or need it otherwise. We take
    this for granted. It's clean. It's safe. It's available to everyone. It
    won't make us sick. We have to have it to survive. Our lives depend on
    it. Why in the world would we do anything, anything at all, which would
    take away the simple security of the safety of this water from our
    children, ourselves, and our future?

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        Ladies and gentlemen, this does not have to be a political issue.
    For 25 years, it has not been a partisan issue. We are seeing in this
    area a dramatic, unusual, unwarranted departure from the commonsense
    course that has kept America moving toward a cleaner environment and a
    better tomorrow. Let's get back on course. That's the real progressive
    future.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:37 a.m. at Pierce Mill in Rock Creek
    Park. In his remarks, he referred to Robert Stanton, Regional Director,
    National Capital Region, National Park Service; and Michael Brown,
    Assistant Superintendent, Rock Creek Park.