Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Chairman, we know that the dirty water bill reduces significant oversight for the Clean Water Act, and it is really important to know that polluters are pushing to weaken this--not residents, not families, and not communities that are directly impacted.

This is about discharging toxic chemicals into our water bodies. I want Members to understand that last year, Congress rejected--again, Congress rejected last year many of the changes being proposed now in the PERMIT Act because it had damaging impacts to the health of families, the economy, and our environment.

Mr. Chairman, it is not just this bill. This week, Republicans are voting now on five dirty energy bills that attack communities I represent. These bills boost dirty energy power plants even as energy companies are transitioning toward cleaner energy.

Dirty energy plants have historically been located in communities that look like mine, in rural communities and minority communities. In Michigan, we already know that certain communities are facing a disproportionate burden from electricity generation.

Just ask the residents of southwest Detroit and the Downriver region in Michigan. They have felt the harm and seen the harm, and they lived the experience of being next to DTE's oil-fired power plant that made them sick.

Mr. Chairman, it is immoral, and Congress must fix it. Yet, many of the pro-polluting Republicans in this Chamber want to talk about making electricity with ``reliable generation facilities,'' when they really are talking about more expensive dirty energy.

There is nothing ``reliable'' about air pollution giving our children asthma. Children not only have the right to be able to not go hungry, but they have a right to breathe clean air. The only thing folks can rely on right now with these plants is getting sicker.

I proposed two amendments this week, Mr. Chair, to protect our communities, but they were rejected. They would have made sure that we have full information and transparency on the disparate impacts and cumulative impacts on minority, rural, disadvantaged, and Tribal communities and would have added safeguards, safeguards that would have been able to define what real reliable generation facilities are.

Again, they were not interested. Why? It is because we know that clean water and clean air is never a priority. It is always going to be about profits for corporate, polluting donors. If you want reliable generation facilities, make them clean so they are not actively poisoning our neighbors, destroying our communities, and making them less attractive places to live, work, and invest.

I promise, if you go to your community and ask them about this dirty water permit bill that you guys are pushing for, as well as what was passed with the energy bills, overwhelmingly, across party lines, they will tell you to protect our land, our soil, our water, our environment, and our health.

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