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Water and Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association, Washington, DC, June 24, 1970
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Water and Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association, Washington, DC, June 24, 1970
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D29, folder "Water and Wastewater Equipment
Manufacturers Association, Washington, DC, June 24, 1970" of the Ford Congressional
Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D29 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
WATER AND WASTEWATER EQUIPMENT MFGRS ASSOCIATN
WASHINGTON, D.C.
JUNE 24, 1970
WE MEET IN EXCITING -- AND TRYING --
TIMES.
THESE ARE TIMES WHEN MOMENTOUS
DECISIONS MUST BE MADE -- DECISIONS TODAY
WHICH WILL DETERMINE THE QUALITY OF OUR LIVES
TOMORROW.
THIS IS A TIME FOR REALISTIC
ASSESSMENT OF OUR PROBLEMS -- A TIME FOR A
RESOLVE TO SOLVE THOSE PROBLEMS AS QUICKLY
AND EXPERTLY AS POSSIBLE.
IT IS A TIME FOR POSITIVE ACTION,
FOR LEADERSHIP, FOR CREATIVITY, AND FOR
BOLDNESS.
THE CHALLENGE OF OUR TIMES IS TO
CONFRONT THE GREAT PROBLEMS AND TO EMPLOY FORD
THE AMERICAN GENIUS NEEDED TO OVERCOME THEM
LIBRARY
-2-
HOW ARE WE TO DO THIS ? THERE MUST
BE CREATED IN OUR COUNTRY A NEW FEELING -- A
TWO-WAY COOPERATION BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND THE
PEOPLE, A WORKING TOGETHER OF ONE WITH THE
OTHER TOWARD NEEDED SOLUTIONS.
OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SPENDS MONEY
IN THREE BASIC AREAS: DEFENSE, SOCIAL WELFARE
AND THE ENVIRONMENT.
DURING THE LAST FEW YEARS OUR
EXPENDITURES IN THESE THREE AREAS HAVE GOTTEN
OUT OF BALANCE.
NOW WE ARE CUTTING DEFENSE EXPENDI-
TURES.
WE ARE SPENDING MORE ON HUMAN
RESOURCE NEEDS. AND WE ARE MOVING TOWARD
VAST NEW EXPENDITURES AIMED AT RESTORING
OUR ENVIRONMENT.
WHAT WE ARE WITNESSING TODAY IS THE
GRADUAL SELF-DESTRUCTION OF LIFE AS WE KNOW
IT ON OUR PLANET.
WE HAVE SENT MEN TO THE MOON BUT WE
-3-
HAVE DO NGRADED LIFE ON SPACESHIP EARTH.
UNLESS WE SPEND THE NEXT FEW YEARS PUTTING A
TREMENDOUS EFFORT AND A LARGE SLICE OF OUR
RESOURCES INTO HOUSEKEEPING -- INTO CLEANING
UP THE AIR WE BREATHE AND THE WATER WE DRINK
-- THEN LIFE ON OUR PLANET WILL CEASE TO
EXIST AS WE KNOW IT TODAY.
THIS ISN'T A JOB THAT GOVERNMENT
OFFICIALS OR THE NATION'S LAWMAKERS CAN DO BY
THEMSELVES. IF THE PEOPLE AREN'T WITH US --
IF THE PEOPLE ARE NOT WILLING TO PAY THE
PRICE -- ALL IS LOST.
I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT THE NATION
HAS BEEN AROUSED. I BELIEVE THAT DURING THE
LAST THIRD OF THIS CENTURY -- PERHAPS BY 1980
-- WE CAN BRING NATURE BACK INTO BALANCE AND
START DEALING EFFECTIVELY WITH THE PROBLEMS
OF OUR ENVIRONMENT.
THE STRUGGLE BEGINS WITH PRESERVA-
TION OF THE NATURAL RESOURCES AND NATURAL
IBRARY
-4-
BEAUTY OF THE LAND, AND WITH THE CONTROL OF
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION. IT MUST EXTEND TO
CONSIDERATION OF POPULATION CONTROL, THE USE
OF LEISURE, THE PACE AND SPACE OF LIFE.
THERE IS REASON TO FEEL ENCOURAGED.
WE HAVE A NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO A RESTORATION
OF OUR ENVIRONMENT.
ON FEBRUARY 7, 1970, PRESIDENT
NIXON PROPOSED SEVEN MAJOR BILLS DESIGNED TO
CARRY OUT PLEDGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS HE HAD
SET F ORTH IN HIS STATE OF THE UNION AND
ENVIRONMENTAL MESSAGES TO THE CONGRESS.
THE HOUSE HAS ALREADY APPROVED TWO
OF THOSE BILLS -- THE CLEAN AIR ACT, WHICH
STRENGTHENED FEDERAL AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
PROGRAMS, AND THE RESOURCE RECOVERY ACT,
WHICH AUTHORIZES A THREE-YEAR PROGRAM TO
RECOMMEND INCENTIVES AND REGULATIONS FOR
REDUCING THE VOLUME OF WASTES BY ENCOURAGING LIBITE
THE RECYCLING OR EASY DISPOSAL OF CONSUMER
-5-
PRODUCTS.
THE PARKS AND RECREATION LEGISLATION
IS STILL PENDING IN THE HOUSE GOVERNMENT
OPERATIONS COMMITTEE, HOWEVER, AND NO ACTION
HAS BEEN TAKEN ON THE FOUR ENVIRONMENTAL BILLS
TURNED OVER TO THE HOUSE PUBLIC WORKS
COMMITTEE.
THE WATER POLLUTION CONTROL LEGISLA-
TION LANGUISHING IN THE HOUSE PUBLIC WORKS
COMMITTEE IS VITAL TO A MASSIVE NATIONAL ATTACK
ON POLLUTION OF OUR LAKES AND STREAMS.
ONE OF THE BILLS WOULD ESTABLISH A
$10 BILLION FEDERAL-STATE-AND-LOCAL PROGRAM
FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF WASTE TREATMENT FACI -
LITIES OVER THE NEXT FOUR YEARS, WITH A
REASSESSMENT OF FUTURE NEEDS IN 1973.
ANOTHER WOULD ESTABLISH AN ENVIRON-
MENTAL FINANCING AUTHORITY TO ENSURE THAT ALL
MUNICIPALITIES NEEDING TREATMENT PLANTS ARE
LIBRARY
038
ABLE TO FINANCE LOCAL COSTS.
-6-
A THIRD WOULD AUTHORIZE THE SECRE-
TARY OF INTERIOR TO DEVELOP COMPREHENSIVE
WATER QUALITY PROGRAMS AND WOULD GRANT THE
AUTHORITY FOR SWIFT ENFORCEMENT.
THE FOURTH WOULD AUTHORIZE RESEARCH,
INVESTIGATION, TRAINING AND DEMONSTRATION
PROJECTS TO IMPROVE STATE AND INTERSTATE
POLLUTION CONTROL PROGRAMS, WITH GREATER
FLEXIBILITY PROVIDED FOR THE GRANT PROGRAMS.
PRESIDENT NIXON HAS PROMISED TO
"PUT MODERN WASTE-TREATMENT PLANTS IN EVERY
PLACE NEEDED TO MAKE OUR WATERS CLEAN AGAIN."
HE NEEDS THE HELP OF CONGRESS TO KEEP THAT
PROMISE.
TODAY I HAVE THE SAD TASK OF INFORM-
ING YOU I HAVE GRAVE DOUBTS THAT ANY OF THE
FOUR WATER POLLUTION CONTROL BILLS WILL BE
ENACTED INTO LAW THIS YEAR. PROBABLY THE
ONLY ACTION IN THE HOUSE PUBLIC WORKS
COMMITTEE WILL BE HEARINGS ON THE TWO FINANCING
BILLS.
-7-
MEANTIME THE HOUSE -- THIS VERY
AFTERNOON -- IS TAKING UP A PUBLIC WORKS
APPROPRIATION BILL WHICH INCLUDES $1 BILLION
IN NEW FUNDS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF WATER WASTE
TREATMENT PLANTS, WITH A CARRYOVER OF $440
MILLION FROM THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR.
ASSUMING HOUSE APPROVAL OF THE
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS, ABOUT $1.44 BILLION
WOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR WASTE TREATMENT CONST-
RUCTION GRANTS TO THE STATES DURING THE NEXT
FISCAL YEAR.
UP TO $200 MILLION OF THE NEW FUNDS
COULD BE USED TO REIMBURSE STATES LIKE MY
OWN STATE OF MICHIGAN WHICH HAVE MOVED AHEAD
RAPIDLY TO ATTACK WATER POLLUTION AND ARE
HOPING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL CATCH UP
WITH ITS SHARE OF THE COSTS.
AS YOU PROBABLY KNOW, FEDERAL FUNDS
COVER 30 TO 55 PERCENT OF THE COST OF STATE
AND MUNICIPAL WATER TREATMENT PLANTS.
GERALD
-8-
I AM EXPECTING AN ATTEMPT ON THE
HOUSE FLOOR THIS AFTERNOON TO INCREASE
THE APPROPRIATION FOR VASTE TREATMENT
PLANT CONSTRUCTION FROM $1 BILLION TO
$1.25 BILLION, THE FULL AMOUNT OF THE
AUTHORIZATION.
THE APPROPRIATION WILL BE MADE
UNDER THE CLEAN WATERS RESTORATION ACT
OF 1966, WHICH REQUIRED STATES TO
ESTABLISH STANDARDS FOR MAINTAINING THE
QUALITY OF INTERSTATE AND COASTAL WATERS.
HEN APPROVED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT,
THE STANDARDS BECOME LAWS THAT THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN ENFORCE IF THE
STATES FAIL TO ADHERE TO THEM.
THE ADMINISTRATION ENFORCEMENT
BILL FASHIONS NEW FEDERAL EAPONS TO
FIGHT WATER POLLUTION. IT EXTENDS THE
FEDERAL-STATE WATER QUALITY STANDARDS TO
FORD LIBRARY 078
-9-
INCLUDE PRECISE STANDARDS FOR ALL INDUSTRIAL
AND MUNICIPAL SOURCES AND PROVIDES COURT
ACTION FOR VIOLATION OF THE STANDARDS.
FINES FOR VIOLATION OF THE STANDARDS COULD
RUN AS HIGH AS $10,000 A DAY.
THE BILL ALSO EXTENDS POLLUTION
CONTROL AUTHORITY TO INCLUDE ALL
NAVIGABLE WATERS, BOTH INTERSTATE AND
INTRASTATE, AND PROVIDES OPERATING GRANTS
OF UP TO $30 MILLION BY 1975 TO STATE
POLLUTION CONTROL AGENCIES.
WE MUST HAVE EFFECTIVE
ENFORCEMENT OF OUR POLLUTION CONTROL
LAWS IF OUR TALK OF POLLUTION CONTROL IS
NOT TO BE JUST THAT -- TALK.
ONE OF THE MOST SERIOUS DEFECTS
IN OUR PRESENT SYSTEM OF WATER POLLUTION
CONTROL IS THE DELAY IN TAKING AN
RALD
INDIVIDUAL POLLUTER TO COURT. IT NOW TAKES
-10-
18 MONTHS OR LONGER TO GO THROUGH ALL
THE PROCEDURES INVOLVED BEFORE COURT
ACTION IS POSSIBLE. THE HEARING STAGE IS
AT THE ROOT OF THE DELAYING ACTION.
PRESIDENT NIXON WOULD ELIMINATE
THE HEARING STAGE AND TAKE A CASE DIRECTLY
FROM AN ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE TO THE
COURTS. I APPLAUD THIS MOVE.
I ALSO FAVOR THE PRESIDENT'S
ATTEMPT TO GIVE ENFORCEMENT MORE CLOUT
BY EMPOWERING THE COURTS TO IMPOSE FINES
OF UP TO $10,000 A DAY FOR NON-COMPLIANCE
ITH RESPONSIBLE WATER QUALITY STANDARDS.
CITIZENS GROUPS ACROSS THE
COUNTRY ARE CLAMORING FOR ACTION ON
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS. I FAIL TO
UNDERSTAND HOW THE CONGRESS CAN IN ALL
CONSCIENCE PUT OFF ACTION ON THE
PRESIDENT'S WATER POLLUTION CONTROL
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-11-
PROGRAM UNTIL NEXT YEAR.
CONCERN HAS BEEN BUILDING FOR SOME
TIME ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT. IT IS
ABSOLUTELY INEXCUSABLE THAT WATER POLLUTION
CONTROL LEGISLATION SHOULD BE LEFT ON THE
SHELF AT A TIME WHEN THE PROBLEM IS REACHING
CRISIS PROPORTIONS.
THE ENVIRONMENT HAS BECOME A
MAJOR POLITICAL ISSUE -- AND PROPERLY SO.
I HOPE THE CONSERVATIONISTS WHO HAVE BEEN
DEMANDING ACTION WILL TAKE NOTE AS TO
JUST WHO IS SITTING ON THE ADMINISTRATION'S
MUCH-NEEDED WATER POLLUTION CONTROL BILLS.
WE KNOW THAT THE COST OF
ADEQUATE WATER POLLUTION CONTROL WILL BE
ASTRONOMICAL. THAT IS ALL THE MORE
REASON WHY WE SHOULD BEGIN THE CLEANUP
FORD
JOB IN EARNEST NOW -- NOT NEXT YEAR BUT
LIBRARY
NOW.
-12-
IT IS ESTIMATED THAT A REALLY
THOROUGH JOB OF CLEANING THE ENVIRONMENT
AND PROTECTING AREAS NOT YET DAMAGED BY
MAN WILL BE FAR MORE EXPENSIVE THAN SENDING
MEN TO THE MOON.
A REPORT ISSUED BY THE GENERAL
ACCOUNTING OFFICE INDICATES THAT AN
EXPENDITURE OF $5.4 BILLION TO REDUCE
WATER POLLUTION IN THE PAST 12 YEARS HAS
LEFT THE NATION'S RIVERS AND LAKES AS
BADLY POLLUTED AS THEY WERE PRIOR TO THE
EXPENDITURE OF THOSE BILLIONS. THIS
WOULD INDICATE THAT WE ARE PAYING OUT
BILLIONS IN WATER POLLUTION CONTROL COSTS
JUST TO KEEP THE POLLUTION OF OUR LAKES
AND STREAMS FROM GETTING WORSE.
THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT
CONGRESS HAS BEEN LAGGARD IN SUPPLYING
SUFFICIENT FUNDS TO COVER THE FEDERAL
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
-13-
COST-SHARE OF THE WATER POLLUTION CONTROL
EFFORT.
OF THE $450 MILLION AUTHORIZED
FOR 1968, CONGRESS APPROPRIATED
$203 MILLION; OF A $700 MILLION
AUTHORIZATION FOR 1969; $214 MILLION WAS
APPROPRIATED; OF AN AUTHORIZED $1 BILLION
FOR 1970, CONGRESS APPROPRIATED
$800 MILLION.
WHAT IS NEEDED NOW IS A MASSIVE
PROGRAM OF MUNICIPAL WASTE TREATMENT
PLANT CONSTRUCTION AND A SHARPLY
ACCELERATED PROGRAM OF POLLUTION ABATEMENT
THROUGH THE PROSECUTION OF INDIVIDUAL
POLLUTERS.
ACCORDING TO THE FEDERAL WATER
POLLUTION CONTROL ADMINISTRATION, BRINGING
THE NATION'S STREAMS AND LAKES UP TO
ERALD R. LIBRARY FORD
FEDERAL STANDARDS WOULD ENTAIL EXPENDITURES
-14-
BY 1973 OF $8 BILLION FOR SEWAGE TREATMENT
PLANTS, $6 TO $7 BILLION FOR SANITARY
COLLECTION SEWERS AND $2.6 TO $4.6 BILLION
FOR FACILITIES TO TREAT INDUSTRIAL WASTE.
THESE ESTIMATES DO NOT INCLUDE THE COST
OF SEPARATING EXISTING STORM AND SANITARY
SEWER SYSTEMS, OR DEBT SERVICE AND
OPERATING COSTS.
IT IS ENCOURAGING TO NOTE THAT
INDUSTRIAL EXPENDITURES FOR POLLUTION
ABATEMENT HAVE RISEN AT A RATE OF 30 TO
35 PER CENT IN RECENT YEARS.
OF COURSE A MAJOR PROBLEM IN
INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION IS THAT POLLUTION
ABATEMENT ADDS TO THE COST OF DOING
BUSINESS AND AFFECTS PROFITS.
IT SHOULD BE EMPHASIZED AT THIS
POINT THAT INDUSTRY'S EMISSIONS OF WASTES
FORD LIBRARY
INTO PUBLIC WATERWAYS ARE TWICE THE VOLUME
-15-
OF DOMESTIC WASTES AND IN SOME AREAS
ARE EVEN GREATER. YET THE AVERAGE
AMERICAN THINKS OF WATER POLLUTION CONTROL
ALMOST ENTIRELY IN CONNECTION WITH
CONSTRUCTION OF SEWAGE DISPOSAL PLANTS.
THE CONGRESS IS VERY MUCH AWARE
OF INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION OF OUR LAKES AND
STREAMS AND IT IS FOR THAT REASON THAT
THE FEDERAL TAX REFORM LAW ALLOWS FOR A
FIVE-YEAR AMORTIZATION OF CERTAIN
POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITIES.
THE COST OF CONTROLLING POLLUTION
IS CENTRAL TO OUR ENTIRE ENVIRONMENTAL
EFFORT.
LET US BE HONEST ABOUT IT.
THE INDIVIDUAL AMERICAN IS GOING TO FOOT
THIS HUGE BILL NO MATTER HOW WE DECIDE
TO ASSESS THE COST.
GERALO, FORD LIBRART
HE WILL PAY FOR IT THROUGH BOND
-16-
SSUES AND INCREASED TAXES AND HE WILL
PAY FOR IT IN THE INCREASED PRICE OF
CONSUMER PRODUCTS.
HOW WILLING IS HE TO PAY FOR
CLEANING UP OUR ENVIRONMENT? THAT IS THE
QUESTION THAT MUST BE ANSWERED AS WE
EMBARK ON THIS ENVIRONMENTAL MISSION
WHICH IS MORE COSTLY THAN SENDING MEN TO
THE MOON.
WE CAN OBSERVE EARTH DAY EVERY
YEAR. WE CAN LISTEN TO ENDLESS RHETORIC
ABOUT THE VERY SURVIVAL OF MANKIND
BEING AT STAKE. BUT WHAT IS REALLY AT
ISSUE HERE IS THE EXTENT TO WHICH
AMERICANS ARE WILLING TO PAY FOR
RESTORING OUR ENVIRONMENT.
WE HAD BETTER BE WILLING TO PAY
THE PRICE, WHATEVER IT MAY BE. FOR
FORD & LIBRARY RAID
UNLESS WE MOVE WITHOUT DELAY TO HALT THE
-17-
DESTRUCTION OF OUR LAND, OUR WATER, AND
OUR AIR, OUR OWN CHILDREN MAY SEE THE LAST
TRACES OF EARTH S BEAUTY CRUSHED BENEATH
THE WEIGHT OF MAN'S WASTE AND RUIN.
OUR GOAL IS CLEAR: CLEANER
WATER CLEANER AIR CLEANER COUNTRYSIDES
CLEANER CITIES CLEANER SUBURBS T- IN
SHORT
A CLEANER AMERICA
WE HAD ALL BETTER TAKE OUR
TALENTS AND OUR TREASURE AND JOIN WITH
OTHERS IN GIVING OURSELVES BACK AMERICA
THE BEAUTIFUL.
THIS WILL ONLY COME ABOUT
THROUGH THE POWER OF THE GOVERNMENT AND
THE PEOPLE WORKING TOGETHER -- THROUGH
THE POWER OF THE HEART AND THE MIND, THE
POWER OF CONSCIENCE AND INTELLECT, AND THE
POWER OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
FORD is LIBRARY 076830
THIS IS THE POWER THAT WILL
-18-
CLEAN OUR WATER AND AIR. THIS IS THE
POWER THAT WILL RESTORE THE AMERICA THAT
OUR FOREFATHERS KNEW -- AMERICA THE
BEAUTIFUL.
-- END --
FORD is LIBRARI 077839
Distribution: Full
Galleries 5:15p.m. 6/23/70 m Office Copy
Dadies p.m. 6/23/70
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
BEFORE THE WATER AND WASTEWATER equipment MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION
AT THE SHERATON PARK HOTEL
WASHINGTON, D.C.
12:45 P.M. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1970
FOR RELEASE IN WEDNESDAY PM's
We meet in exciting -- and trying -- times.
These are times when momentous decisions must be made -- decisions today
which will determine the quality of our lives tomorrow.
This is a time for realistic assessment of our problems -- a time for a
resolve to solve those problems as quickly and expertly as possible.
It is a time for positive action, for leadership, for creativity, and for
boldness.
The challenge of our times is to confront the great problems and to employ
the American genius needed to overcome them.
How are we to do this? There must be created in our country a new feeling --
a two-way cooperation between government and the people, a working together of one
with the other toward needed solutions.
Our federal government spends money in three basic areas: Defense, social
welfare, and the environment.
During the last few years our expenditures in these three areas have gotten
out of balance.
Now we are cutting defense expenditures. We are spending more on human
resource needs. And we are moving toward vast new expenditures aimed at restoring
our environment.
What we are witnessing today is the gradual self-destruction of life as
we know it on our planet.
We have sent men to the moon but we have downgraded life on spaceship earth.
Unless we spend the next few years putting a tremendous effort and a large slice of
our resources into housekeeping -- into cleaning up the air we breathe and the
water we drink -- then life on our planet will cease to exist as we know it today.
This isn't a job that government officials or the nation's lawmakers can do
by themselves. If the people aren't with us -- if the people are not willing to
pay the price -- all is lost.
I personally believe that the Nation has been aroused. I believe that
FORD LIBRARY
(more)
-2-
during the last third of this century -- perhaps by 1980 -- we can bring nature
back into balance and start dealing effectively with the problems of our environment.
The struggle begins with preservation of the natural resources and natural
beauty of the land, and with the control of environmental pollution. It must
extend to consideration of population control, the use of leisure, the pace and
space of life.
There is reason to feel encouraged. We have a national commitment to a
restoration of our environment.
On February 7, 1970, President Nixon proposed seven major bills designed to
carry out pledges and recommendations he had set forth in his State of the Union
and Environmental Messages to the Congress.
The House has already approved two of those bills -- the Clean Air Act,
which strengthened federal air pollution control programs, and the Resource
Recovery Act, which authorizes a three-year program to recommend incentives and
regulations for reducing the volume of wastes by encouraging the recycling or easy
disposal of consumer products.
The parks and recreation legislation is still pending in the House
Government Operations Committee, however, and no action has been taken on the four
environmental bills turned over to the House Public Works Committee.
The water pollution control legislation languishing in the House Public
Works Committee is vital to a massive national attack on pollution of our lakes
and streams.
One of the bills would establish a $10 billion federal-state-and-local
program for the construction of waste treatment facilities over the next four years,
with a reassessment of future needs in 1973.
Another would establish an Environmental Financing Authority to ensure that
all municipalities needing treatment plants are able to finance local costs.
A third would authorize the Secretary of Interior to develop comprehensive
water quality programs and would grant the authority for swift enforcement.
The fourth would authorize research, investigation, training and demonstration
projects to improve State and interstate pollution control programs, with greater
flexibility provided for the grant programs.
President Nixon has promised to "put modern waste-treatment plants in every
place needed to make our waters clean again." He needs the help of Congress to
keep that promise.
Today I have the sad task of informing you I have grave doubts that any of
(more)
-3-
the four water pollution control bills will be enacted into law this year.
Probably the only action in the House Public Works Committee will be hearings on
the two financing bills.
Meantime the House -- this very afternoon -- is taking up a public works
appropriation bill which includes $1 billion in new funds for construction of
water waste treatment plants, with a carryover of $440 million from the current
fiscal year.
Assuming House approval of the committee recommendations, about $1.44 billion
would be available for waste treatment construction grants to the states during the
next fiscal year.
Up to $200 million of the new funds could be used to reimburse states like
my own state of Michigan which have moved ahead rapidly to attack water pollution
and are hoping the Federal Government will catch up with its share of the costs.
As you probably know, Federal funds cover 30 to 55 per cent of the cost of
state and municipal water treatment plants.
I am expecting an attempt on the House floor this afternoon to increase the
appropriation for waste treatment plant construction from $1 billion to
$1.25 billion, the full amount of the authorization.
The appropriation will be made under the Clean Waters Restoration Act of
1966, which required states to establish standards for maintaining the quality of
interstate and coastal waters. When approved by the Federal Government, the
standards become laws that the Federal Government can enforce if the states fail to
adhere to them.
The Administration enforcement bill fashions new Federal weapons to fight
water pollution. It extends the Federal-State Water Quality Standards to include
precise standards for all industrial and municipal sources and provides court
action for violation of the standards. Fines for violation of the standards could
run as high as $10,000 a day.
The bill also extends pollution control authority to include all navigable
waters, both interstate and intrastate, and provides operating grants of up to
$30 million by 1975 to state pollution control agencies.
We must have effective enforcement of our pollution control laws if our talk
of pollution control is not to be just that -- talk.
One of the most serious defects in our present system of water pollution
control is the delay in taking an individual polluter to court. It now takes
18 months or longer to go through all the procedures involved before court action
(more)
-4-
is possible. The hearing stage is at the root of the delaying action.
President Nixon would eliminate the hearing stage and take a case directly
from an enforcement conference to the courts. I applaud this move.
I also favor the President's attempt to give enforcement more clout by
empowering the courts to impose fines of up to $10,000 a day for non-compliance
with responsible water quality standards.
Citizens groups across the country are clamoring for action on environmental
problems. I fail to understand how the Congress can in all conscience put off
action on the President's water pollution control program until next year.
Concern has been building for some time about the environment. It is
absolutely inexcusable that water pollution control legislation should be left on
the shelf at a time when the problem is reaching crisis proportions.
The environment has become a major political issue -- and properly SO. I
hope the conservationists who have been demanding action will take note as to just
who is sitting on the Administration's much-needed water pollution control bills.
We know that the cost of adequate water pollution control will be
astronomical. That is all the more reason why we should begin the cleanup job
in earnest now --- not next year, but now.
It is estimated that a really thorough job of cleaning the environment and
protecting areas not yet damaged by man will be far more expensive than sending
men to the moon.
A report issued by the General Accounting Office indicates that an expenditure
of $5.4 billion to reduce water pollution in the past 12 years has left the nation's
rivers and lakes as badly polluted as they were prior to the expenditure of those
billions. This would indicate that we are paying out billions in water pollution
control costs just to keep the pollution of our lakes and streams from getting
worse.
There is no question that Congress has been laggard in supplying sufficient
funds to cover the Federal cost-share of the water pollution control effort.
Of the $450 million authorized for 1968, Congress appropriated $203 million;
of a $700 million authorization for 1969, $214 million was appropriated; of an
authorized $1 billion for 1970, Congress appropriated $800 million.
What is needed now is a massive program of municipal waste treatment plant
construction and a sharply accelerated program of pollution abatement through the
prosecution of individual polluters.
According to the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration, bringing
LIQUARY
(more)
-5-
the nation's streams and lakes up to Federal standards would entail expenditures
by 1973 of $8 billion for sewage treatment plants, $6 to $7 billion for sanitary
collection sewers, and $2.6 to $4.6 billion for facilities to treat industrial waste.
These estimates do not include the cost of separating existing storm and sanitary
sewer systems, or debt service and operating costs.
It is encouraging to note that industrial expenditures for pollution abate-
ment have risen at a rate of 30 to 35 per cent in recent years.
Of course a major problem in industrial pollution is that pollution abatement
adds to the cost of doing business and affects profits.
It should be emphasized at this point that industry's emissions of wastes
into public waterways are twice the volume of domestic wastes, and in some areas
are even greater. Yet the average American thinks of water pollution control almost
entirely in connection with construction of sewage disposal plants.
The Congress is very much aware of industrial pollution of our lakes and
streams and it is for that reason that the Federal tax reform law allows for a
five-year amortization of certain pollution control facilities.
The cost of controlling pollution is central to our entire environmental
effort.
Let us be honest about it. The individual American is going to foot this
huge bill no matter how we decide to assess the cost.
He will pay for it through bond issues and increased taxes, and he will pay
for it in the increased price of consumer products.
How willing is he to pay for cleaning up our environment? That is the
question that must be answered as we embark on this environmental mission which
is more costly than sending men to the moon.
We can observe Earth Day every year. We can listen to endless rhetoric
about the very survival of mankind being at stake. But what is really at issue
here is the extent to which Americans are willing to pay for restoring our
environment.
We had better be willing to pay the price, whatever it may be. For unless
we move without delay to halt the destruction of our land, our water, and our
air, our own children may see the last traces of earth's beauty crushed beneath
the weight of man's waste and ruin.
Our goal is clear: Cleaner water, cleaner air, cleaner countrysides,
cleaner cities, cleaner suburbs -- in short, a cleaner America.
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We had all better take our talents and our treasure and join with others
in giving ourselves back America the beautiful.
This will only come about through the power of the government and the people
working together -- through the power of the heart and the mind, the power of
conscience and intellect, and the power of personal responsibility.
This is the power that will clean our water and air. This is the power that
will restore the America that our forefathers knew --- America the Beautiful.
# # #
Full Distribution
O office Copy
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
BEFORE THE WATER AND WASTEWATER equipment MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION
AT THE SHERATON PARK HOTEL
WASHINGTON, D.C.
12:45 P.M. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1970
FOR RELEASE IN WEDNESDAY PM's
We meet in exciting -- and trying --- times.
These are times when momentous decisions must be made -- decisions today
which will determine the quality of our lives tomorrow.
This is a time for realistic assessment of our problems --- a time for a
resolve to solve those problems as quickly and expertly as possible.
It is a time for positive action, for leadership, for creativity, and for
boldness.
The challenge of our times is to confront the great problems and to employ
the American genius needed to overcome them.
How are we to do this? There must be created in our country a new feeling --
a two-way cooperation between government and the people, a working together of one
with the other toward needed solutions.
Our federal government spends money in three basic areas: Defense, social
welfare, and the environment.
During the last few years our expenditures in these three areas have gotten
out of balance.
Now we are cutting defense expenditures. We are spending more on human
resource needs. And we are moving toward vast new expenditures aimed at restoring
our environment.
What we are witnessing today is the gradual self-destruction of life as
we know it on our planet.
We have sent men to the moon but we have downgraded life on spaceship earth.
Unless we spend the next few years putting a tremendous effort and a large slice of
our resources into housekeeping -- into cleaning up the air we breathe and the
water we drink -- then life on our planet will cease to exist as we know it today.
This isn't a job that government officials or the nation's lawmakers can do
by themselves. If the people aren't with us -- if the people are not willing to
pay the price -- all is lost.
I personally believe that the Nation has been aroused. I believe that
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during the last third of this century -- perhaps by 1980 -- we can bring nature
back into balance and start dealing effectively with the problems of our environment.
The struggle begins with preservation of the natural resources and natural
beauty of the land, and with the control of environmental pollution. It must
extend to consideration of population control, the use of leisure, the pace and
space of life.
There is reason to feel encouraged. We have a national commitment to a
restoration of our environment.
On February 7, 1970, President Nixon proposed seven major bills designed to
carry out pledges and recommendations he had set forth in his State of the Union
and Environmental Messages to the Congress.
The House has already approved two of those bills -- the Clean Air Act,
which strengthened federal air pollution control programs, and the Resource
Recovery Act, which authorizes a three-year program to recommend incentives and
regulations for reducing the volume of wastes by encouraging the recycling or easy
disposal of consumer products.
The parks and recreation legislation is still pending in the House
Government Operations Committee, however, and no action has been taken on the four
environmental bills turned over to the House Public Works Committee.
The water pollution control legislation languishing in the House Public
Works Committee is vital to a massive national attack on pollution of our lakes
and streams.
One of the bills would establish a $10 billion federal-state-and-local
program for the construction of waste treatment facilities over the next four years,
with a reassessment of future needs in 1973.
Another would establish an Environmental Financing Authority to ensure that
all municipalities needing treatment plants are able to finance local costs.
A third would authorize the Secretary of Interior to develop comprehensive
water quality programs and would grant the authority for swift enforcement.
The fourth would authorize research, investigation, training and demonstration
projects to improve State and interstate pollution control programs, with greater
flexibility provided for the grant programs.
President Nixon has promised to "put modern waste-treatment plants in every
place needed to make our waters clean again." He needs the help of Congress to
keep that promise.
Today I have the sad task of informing you I have grave doubts that any of
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the four water pollution control bills will be enacted into law this year.
Probably the only action in the House Public Works Committee will be hearings on
the two financing bills.
Meantime the House -- this very afternoon -- is taking up a public works
appropriation bill which includes $1 billion in new funds for construction of
water waste treatment plants, with a carryover of $440 million from the current
fiscal year.
Assuming House approval of the committee recommendations, about $1.44 billion
would be available for waste treatment construction grants to the states during the
next fiscal year.
Up to $200 million of the new funds could be used to reimburse states like
my own state of Michigan which have moved ahead rapidly to attack water pollution
and are hoping the Federal Government will catch up with its share of the costs.
As you probably know, Federal funds cover 30 to 55 per cent of the cost of
state and municipal water treatment plants.
I am expecting an attempt on the House floor this afternoon to increase the
appropriation for waste treatment plant construction from $1 billion to
$1.25 billion, the full amount of the authorization.
The appropriation will be made under the Clean Waters Restoration Act of
1966, which required states to establish standards for maintaining the quality of
interstate and coastal waters. When approved by the Federal Government, the
standards become laws that the Federal Government can enforce if the states fail to
adhere to them.
The Administration enforcement bill fashions new Federal weapons to fight
water pollution. It extends the Federal-State Water Quality Standards to include
precise standards for all industrial and municipal sources and provides court
action for violation of the standards. Fines for violation of the standards could
run as high as $10,000 a day.
The bill also extends pollution control authority to include all navigable
waters, both interstate and intrastate, and provides operating grants of up to
$30 million by 1975 to state pollution control agencies.
We must have effective enforcement of our pollution control laws if our talk
of pollution control is not to be just that -- talk.
One of the most serious defects in our present system of water pollution
control is the delay in taking an individual polluter to court. It now takes
18 months or longer to go through all the procedures involved before court action
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is possible. The hearing stage is at the root of the delaying action.
President Nixon would eliminate the hearing stage and take a case directly
from an enforcement conference to the courts. I applaud this move.
I also favor the President's attempt to give enforcement more clout by
empowering the courts to impose fines of up to $10,000 a day for non-compliance
with responsible water quality standards.
Citizens groups across the country are clamoring for action on environmental
problems. I fail to understand how the Congress can in all conscience put off
action on the President's water pollution control program until next year.
Concern has been building for some time about the environment. It is
absolutely inexcusable that water pollution control legislation should be left on
the shelf at a time when the problem is reaching crisis proportions.
The environment has become a major political issue --- and properly SO. I
hope the conservationists who have been demanding action will take note as to just
who is sitting on the Administration's much-needed water pollution control bills.
We know that the cost of adequate water pollution control will be
astronomical. That is all the more reason why we should begin the cleanup job
in earnest now -- not next year, but now.
It is estimated that a really thorough job of cleaning the environment and
protecting areas not yet damaged by man will be far more expensive than sending
men to the moon.
A report issued by the General Accounting Office indicates that an expenditure
of $5.4 billion to reduce water pollution in the past 12 years has left the nation's
rivers and lakes as badly polluted as they were prior to the expenditure of those
billions. This would indicate that we are paying out billions in water pollution
control costs just to keep the pollution of our lakes and streams from getting
worse.
There is no question that Congress has been laggard in supplying sufficient
funds to cover the Federal cost-share of the water pollution control effort.
Of the $450 million authorized for 1968, Congress appropriated $203 million;
of a $700 million authorization for 1969, $214 million was appropriated; of an
authorized $1 billion for 1970, Congress appropriated $800 million.
What is needed now is a massive program of municipal waste treatment plant
construction and a sharply accelerated program of pollution abatement through the
prosecution of individual polluters.
FORD
&
According to the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration, bringing
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LIBRARY
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the nation's streams and lakes up to Federal standards would entail expenditures
by 1973 of $8 billion for sewage treatment plants, $6 to $7 billion for sanitary
collection sewers, and $2.6 to $4.6 billion for facilities to treat industrial waste.
These estimates do not include the cost of separating existing storm and sanitary
sewer systems, or debt service and operating costs.
It is encouraging to note that industrial expenditures for pollution abate-
ment have risen at a rate of 30 to 35 per cent in recent years.
Of course a major problem in industrial pollution is that pollution abatement
adds to the cost of doing business and affects profits.
It should be emphasized at this point that industry's emissions of wastes
into public waterways are twice the volume of domestic wastes, and in some areas
are even greater. Yet the average American thinks of water pollution control almost
entirely in connection with construction of sewage disposal plants.
The Congress is very much aware of industrial pollution of our lakes and
streams and it is for that reason that the Federal tax reform law allows for a
five-year amortization of certain pollution control facilities.
The cost of controlling pollution is central to our entire environmental
effort.
Let us be honest about it. The individual American is going to foot this
huge bill no matter how we decide to assess the cost.
He will pay for it through bond issues and increased taxes, and he will pay
for it in the increased price of consumer products.
How willing is he to pay for cleaning up our environment? That is the
question that must be answered as we embark on this environmental mission which
is more costly than sending men to the moon.
We can observe Earth Day every year. We can listen to endless rhetoric
about the very survival of mankind being at stake. But what is really at issue
here is the extent to which Americans are willing to pay for restoring our
environment.
We had better be willing to pay the price, whatever it may be. For unless
we move without delay to halt the destruction of our land, our water, and our
air, our own children may see the last traces of earth's beauty crushed beneath
the weight of man's waste and ruin.
Our goal is clear: Cleaner water, cleaner air, cleaner countrysides,
cleaner cities, cleaner suburbs -- in short, a cleaner America.
FCRD
(more)
GERALD
LIBRARY
-6-
We had all better take our talents and our treasure and join with others
in giving ourselves back America the beautiful.
This will only come about through the power of the government and the people
working together -- through the power of the heart and the mind, the power of
conscience and intellect, and the power of personal responsibility.
This is the power that will clean our water and air. This is the power that
will restore the America that our forefathers knew --- America the Beautiful.
# # #
PORT & LIBRARY GERALD