Toxic Waste in Michigan
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the 12th Congressional District and the State of Michigan to say to Norfolk Southern: Don't dump your toxic waste in our State.
Late last Friday, we learned that shipments of solid and liquid toxic waste from the East Palestine train derailment in Ohio were being transported to Michigan for disposal.
Norfolk Southern chose to dispose truckloads of hazardous materials at multiple sites, including one operated by U.S. Ecology, one of our region's most negligent and notorious corporate polluters. These companies treat poisoning our communities as the cost of doing business, and we are done with it.
I am so proud of our residents who spoke up and who helped halt further shipments into our State. I want to thank every single one of them from the bottom of my heart for speaking the truth and demanding better from all of our officials from the State and the Federal EPA.
We will never give permission for corporate polluters to continue sacrificing the health and well-being of our communities and our families.
Our environmental regulators State and Federal must aggressively protect all of us from this threat and hold these polluters accountable. DTE Energy
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, I rise today to say that DTE Energy, an investor-owned utility monopoly in my district, charges some of the highest rates in our Nation while providing some of the most unreliable service and performs hundreds of thousands of utility shutoffs per year.
Right now many of my residents are in the seventh day of no power: no gas, heat, or electricity.
This past week has been yet another nightmare for more than close to 1 million DTE customers as well as 200,000 consumer energy customers in our State who have endured days on end without power and heat after a completely foreseeable winter storm.
Why?
Because DTE doesn't invest in reliability. It invests in profits and pays for shareholders and executives. The company made $1.1 billion in profits last year alone.
Investor-owned utilities like DTE will always put profits over the people whom we serve in this Chamber.
During the worst of the pandemic in 2020, Madam Speaker, DTE shut off power to customers more than 80,000 times despite being subsidized by our Federal Government to the tune of $268 million in CARES Act funding.
The reason?
They paid out $807 million to shareholders instead of keeping the power on for our residents who were struggling through the pandemic.
Since 2015, DTE has received over $775 million in rate hikes, the second highest rate of increase in our Nation, and they just announced their intention to seek another massive rate hike.
DTE has failed to invest in the infrastructure upgrades necessary to prevent outages, instead choosing to maximize profits for its shareholders and spending millions on campaign contributions to avoid real accountability.
I am sick and tired of wealthy corporate executives lining their pockets while our communities suffer and continue to be exploited.
That is why, last year, I introduced the Resolution Recognizing the Human Rights to Utilities with Representatives Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman.
Madam Speaker, access to utilities is not a privilege; it is a fundamental human right. People depend on it for medical and for safety, again, in their own homes. In the richest country on Earth, every single family should have access to electricity, heat, and water. We need public power for all. Honoring the Life of Eva Alvarez
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, I rise today in memory of Eva Alvarez, a community activist who worked to improve the lives of countless immigrant families across southeast Michigan. Her life was suddenly cut short this past weekend in a tragic accident.
Eva worked on public policy advocacy for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, one of the State's strongest immigrant empowerment agencies, where she championed policies to improve the lives of immigrants, Dreamers, farmworkers, and TSP holders.
She was an incredible leader. Eva will be missed. She is known for her spirit of hope and optimism, which helped her persevere and remain steadfast in her work. She could always be counted on to offer a kind word to uplift others.
Eva's sudden passing will be felt deeply throughout our communities. Please join me in honoring the life of Ms. Eva Alvarez, and please extend our condolences to her family as we mourn her loss. May she rest in power.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source