[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 18, 2023)] [House] [Pages H1782-H1788] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Date: 2023-04-18
Chamber: HOUSE
Ms. JACKSON LEE: I thank the gentleman for yielding me additional time. Mr. Speaker, we advocated for that management. We have hurricanes. And when we have hurricanes, we are always subject to the system not being able to hold the water and contamination is a possibility. According to the Houston Public Works Department, the city's wastewater treatment plant treats an average of 304 million gallons of wastewater per day. These treatment plants are required to meet strict standards. I will say that all cities and counties we are all working to maintain clean water. We have a situation that we are working on in my local community of Houston, wastewater and sewage. What do you think we would do, Mr. Speaker, without the Clean Water Act? Please don't undermine us. Don't undermine us and the local people. Listen to the roll call: Flint; Jackson, Mississippi; East Palestine; and many others. Let us oppose this particular H.J. Res. and let us recognize that we have the responsibility. If we are doing nothing else, we have got to be responsible with H.J. Res. 27, opposing it, so that we can stand up for the children of this Nation. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to oppose H.J. Res. 27. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition of H.J. Res 27--Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency relating to ``Revised Definition of `Waters of the United States' ''. H.J. Res. 27 is specifically intended to oppose the ``Revised Definition of `Waters of the United States' '' rule, which clarifies and broadens the categories of water bodies and wetlands that would be subject to government protection under the Clean Water Act. In 2019, the EPA awarded over $4.2 million to the city of Houston to fund projects aimed at improving water quality and stormwater management. According to the Houston Public Works department, the city's wastewater treatment plants treat an average of 304 million gallons of wastewater per day. These treatment plants are required to meet strict standards set by the Clean Water Act, which helps ensure that the water discharged from the plants is safe for the environment and public health. The EPA has identified several bodies of water in the Houston area as ``impaired'' due to pollution, including parts of the Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay. However, thanks in part to the Clean Water Act, the overall water quality in the area has improved over the past few decades. According to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Clean Water Act has helped prevent an estimated 230,000 cases of childhood gastrointestinal illness in Texas each year by reducing water pollution. It is important to oppose this resolution because H.J. Res. 27 will be the sixth attempt at weakening the Clean Water Act. Over many years, Republicans in Congress and industry groups argued that the restrictions were overly broad and would have negatively impacted farmers, ranchers, and other businesses by subjecting more waters to federal regulation under the Clean Water Act. H.J. Res 27 will carelessly bind the hands of federal agencies working to protect our country's water supply and quality. We need to help farmers have clean water with effective oversight. If H.J. Res. 27 were to become law, it may have a detrimental effect on the Clean Water Act (CWA), a law that prohibits the discharge of pollutants into our country's rivers and safeguards the quality of our water resources. It's important to prevent this joint resolution in order to maintain the Clean Water Act because the CWA places restrictions on the number of pollutants that can be emitted and mandates that any plant that releases pollutants into US waters acquire a permit. The Clean Water Act also permits the use of federal funding to support the construction and maintenance of water treatment facilities by local governments and other organizations. The Clean Water Act has been an essential tool for preserving the health of US water resources and for ensuring that Americans have access to clean, safe water. By establishing standards, funding infrastructure projects, and promoting monitoring and research activities, the Clean Water Act has been a significant factor in preserving and enhancing Houston's water quality. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), since the Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972, the number of water bodies in the U.S. that are safe for fishing and swimming has increased from 36 percent to over 60 percent. However because to statutory exclusions for routine farming, forestry, and ranching activities as well as for the building and upkeep of farm and stock ponds and irrigation ditches, farmers are mainly exempt from the Clean Water Act's regulatory requirements. Less than 1 percent of all permits issued under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act are for agricultural purposes. Yet, this resolution will abolish elements of the Biden rule intended to provide farmers further advantages, such as the recodification of the previous converted cropland exclusion and new regulatory exclusions for specific ditches, irrigated regions, such as rice fields and erosional features. Eliminating these agricultural exclusions will increase uncertainty rather than decrease it. In addition, The Biden regulation reinstates the same scientifically based standards that have been used for decades by every presidential administration, including originally the Trump administration. I would like to thank Biden Administration for keeping those rules in place that helps the resident of Houston to have a better water quality and help farmers to maintain the productivity of their land and support sustainable agricultural practices. As a Senior member of the Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee, I urge my colleagues to oppose H.J. Res 27 so we may keep defending the water's purity and the health of our citizens.