OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2021

Floor Speech

Date: July 23, 2020
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Executive Branch Government Budget and Spending Environment

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Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bipartisan en bloc amendment and three of my important amendments included in this package to address PFAS contamination.

PFAS is a national health and environmental crisis. It is growing in scope every day, contaminating our air, water, and soil. Michigan has been hit hard. But yesterday, we led in setting the standard in the absence of Federal action.

My main amendment will ensure that the administration cannot withdraw their decision issued in January to proceed with the national drinking water standard for PFO and PFOS. It will also prevent the administration from reversing its efforts to designate these notorious chemicals as hazardous substances under the Superfund program, which will kick-start the cleanup process at the most contaminated sites nationwide.

This amendment doesn't go far enough, but it is a beginning to make sure we don't go backward in our efforts. I push all of my colleagues to join these efforts as cosponsors and thank Chair McCollum for her enduring leadership in this year's Interior appropriations bill.

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Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the wonderful chair of the Appropriations Committee for yielding.

I rise in support of en bloc 2, which includes an important amendment to block the Trump administration's latest attack on the National Environmental Policy Act.

For 50 years, NEPA has both protected and fought for the environment and empowered local communities protecting them. In many cases, NEPA provides ordinary Americans the only opportunity to have a voice on major projects, including pipelines or extractive activity like oil and gas drilling that directly impacts their communities.

The administration's new NEPA rule both limits the scope of environmental review and exempts entire categories of projects from review all together.

Mr. Speaker, the administration's attack on NEPA prioritizes special interests and polluters ahead of the American people and our environmental heritage. I urge my colleagues to support this en bloc amendment and to block this assault on one of our Nation's bedrock environmental laws.

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