Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act of 2025. This bill aims to reduce pollution along the U.S.-Mexico border and improve water quality throughout the Tijuana River and New River watersheds. It would designate the Environmental Protection Agency as the lead Agency to coordinate all Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies to build and maintain needed infrastructure projects to address pollution along the border.

The Tijuana River watershed is in the midst of an environmental crisis, as stormwater flows from the upper watershed, originating in Tijuana, Mexico, and carries trash, sediment, and sewage into San Diego County.

Imperial County, like San Diego County, also faces serious impacts from the raw sewage, industrial waste, and trash that is carried by the New River from Mexicali, Mexico, through the city of Calexico before ultimately draining into the Salton Sea, where local families face exposure to dangerous pathogens.

Since 2019, more than 100 billion gallons of sewage have flowed across the U.S.-Mexico border into the Tijuana River Valley and neighboring communities, forcing long-lasting beach closures, including the closure of Imperial Beach for more than 1,200 days in a row.

Needless to say, this transboundary pollution crisis has disproportionately harmed underserved communities along San Diego's southern border for decades. U.S. military personnel, Border Patrol agents, and the local environment and economy have also suffered harmful impacts from waterborne and airborne transboundary sewage.

This bill will build upon the past several years of work I have undertaken alongside the late Senator Feinstein to bolster the resources of the Environmental Protection Agency and the International Boundary and Water Commission to repair, rehabilitate, and expand the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, including securing $300 million in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and more than $250 million through fiscal year 2025 appropriations legislation.

Establishing a program for the Tijuana and New Rivers is critical for the EPA to integrate and coordinate water quality restoration and protection activities by stakeholders across the region and will facilitate better coordination by Federal, State, Tribal, local, public, nonprofit, and other relevant stakeholders. California communities have suffered the impacts of transboundary sewage for too long, and this legislation will facilitate longawaited solutions to manage stormwater flows to reduce negative impacts to nearby communities and the regional economy and restore water quality and ecosystems throughout these watersheds.

I want to thank my colleagues, especially Senator Adam Schiff, Senator Cory Booker, and Congressman Juan Vargas, for reintroducing this bill with me. I hope my colleagues will join me to pass the Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act of 2025 to address this public health and environmental crisis. ______

By Mr. PADILLA:

S. 2261. A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to provide for the establishment of standards to limit the carbon intensity of the fuel used by certain vessels, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

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Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Clean Shipping Act of 2025. This bill aims to reduce harmful emissions from oceangoing vessels and improve air quality for the nearly 40 percent of Americans that live within 3 miles of a port.

Globally, maritime shipping is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, emitting an estimated 1 billion tons of GHG emissions per year and roughly 3 percent of total anthropogenic global-warming carbon-dioxide emissions. According to the International Maritime Organization, global shipping emissions could more than double between 2018 and 2050.

That is why the United States signed two shipping declarations at COP26 to call for zero-emission fuels on international commercial vessels by 2030 and the establishment of zero-emission shipping routes b the middle of the 2020 decade.

This bill would establish a pathway to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from all oceangoing vessels that do business with the United States. It would protect air quality and public health in near-port communities, reduce climate pollution from large marine vessels calling on U.S. ports, and ensure the global maritime sector cuts emissions-- all while giving the EPA the flexibility needed for smooth implementation.

More than 90 percent of global trade is transported by oceangoing vessels, which produce an estimated 3 percent of global anthropogenic emissions. Yet these emissions are unregulated in the United States.

The International Maritime Organization's Intersessional Working Group on the Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships plans to meet at the end of the month.

This bill would send a strong signal of our commitment to our international partners, empower the EPA to set standards to reduce harmful pollution in accordance with our national and international climate goals, provide certainty to the global shipping industry, and catalyze research and development to transition oceangoing vessels that rely on diesel engines.

This bill enjoys the support of environmentalists and industry stakeholders alike who recognize the urgent need to reduce emissions from the shipping sector.

I want to thank my colleagues, especially Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressman Robert Garcia, for reintroducing this bill with me. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the Clean Shipping Act of 2025 as quickly as possible. ______

By Mr. BARRASSO (for himself, Ms. Lummis, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Risch, and Mr. Curtis):

S. 2262. A bill to amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to clarify the nature of public investment for purposes of certain rulemaking, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

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