the e.p.a. says the cancer risk here is almost 50 times the e.tional average.they build this monstrosity up on top of us. >> reporter: robert taylor has lived most of his 78 years here. even his family's cemetery is surrounded by a refinery. he says his mom, sister, uncle and nephew all died of cancer. >> as i stand here, it's overwhelming to me. all of my folks are here. rewill eventually wind up here. >> reporter: for decades, people in reserve have had health problems, ranging from dizziness and severe headaches to liver and lung cancer. many believe this plant, mendreds of yards from some of their homes, is the source. ele denka performance elastomer ilant, owned by dupont until 2015, makes chloroprene, a chemical the e.p.a. calls a "likely human carcinogen." denka is the only plant in the country producing it. in a new study obtained first by cbs news, the university network for human rights found actual rncer rates surrounding denka are higher than expected. those living in homes surveyed within a mile of the plant had %ancer rates of nearly 7%. go a half

the e.p.a. says the cancer risk here is almost 50 times the national average. >> they build this monstrosity up on top of us. >> reporter: robert taylor has lived most of his 78 years here. even his family's cemetery is surrounded by a refinery. he says his mom, sister, uncle and nephew all died of cancer. >> as i stand here, it's overwhelming to me. all of my folks are here. i will eventually wind up here. >> reporter: for decades, people in reserve have had health problems, ranging from dizziness and severe headaches to liver and lung cancer. many believe this plant, hundreds of yards from some of their homes, is the source. the denka performance elastomer plant, owned by dupont until 2015, makes chloroprene, a chemical the e.p.a. calls a "likely human carcinogen." denka is the only plant in the country producing it. in a new study obtained first by cbs news, the university network for human rights found actual cancer rates surrounding denka are higher than expected. those living in homes surve

for example, the e.p.a. administrator told the public that asbestos could be cleaned from apartments with a damp cloth and wet mop. based on these false assurances, students were sent back to schools that had been contaminated with the toxic dust cloud without ventilation systems being cleaned first. people kept working to clear the pile for months with no protective equipment. quite simply the federal government lied and now tens of thousands of people are sick with a 9/11 related illness. it now nalls to us -- falls to us in the words of abraham lincoln to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan. three times congress has come together to provide a health program and compensation for the victims of 9/11 through a victims compensation fund or v.c.f. most recently in 2015 we made the world trade center health program effectively permanent, extended to 2090. but re-authorized the v.c.f., victims compensation fund, for only five years. as we heard in a judiciary committee hearin

administration you get the consumer safety legislation safety and health regulations in the workplace the e.p.a. the environmental protection agency. business didn't like it of course they didn't like that taxes. they didn't like the regulation and they began a coordinated effort to try to overcome a. lobbying sharply to increase deregulation began with the rule ferocity. there were no financial crashes in the fifty's and the sixty's because the regulatory apparatus of the new deal was still in place. as a pm to be dismantled under business pressure and political pressure. to get more and more crashes. and it goes on through the years. seventy's sort of starts begin. eighty's really takes off congress was asked to approve federal loan guarantees to the auto companies about the wan and one half $1000000000.00 all of this is quite safe as long as you know the government's going to come to rescue so it takes a break and instead of letting them pay the cost break and build out the banks like continental the biggest bailout of american history at the time that she ended his term with so the huge fin

votes tools enough and which is ironic in a sense because they're even farther to the right then the e.p.a. and all this added up to this very slim majority and many parliamentarians here are saying this is not a very good start it'll be difficult to have majorities in the future for legislation that will be initiated by. but then of course you also have those that echo what she said in that interview a majority is a majority indeed it is but you know we have to talk about the fact also max that many of her fellow germans especially the social democrats the greens did not vote for her what were their objections. to the greens decided very early on that they would not vote for it. actually they released their press communiqué just like 90 minutes after they had talked to her last week in brussels and some of them seem to regret that a little bit after hearing the speech on tuesday that as you know was very much oriented towards climate protection and i have a from firsthand that some of the greens not necessarily the german ones did vote for. now the social democrats the german social democ

if you are a polluter, you don't like the e.p.a. rules, but under your doctrine, there was no way to go to court and change it. now we are seeing a change. we are seeing that doctrine of yours really come under stress. we have justice gorsuch, and i assume if kavanaugh gets confirmed, he will be opposed to it. a lot of people are saying -- and there was the case of michigan in 2015 -- that that doctrine of yours is fading away. i wonder if you feel like you need to defend it. hon. stevens: yes. [laughter] frank: well, why? why should it be defended? hon. stevens: i think it is sound doctrine. it is interesting. when that case came before the court, it was my third or fourth year. sandra was on the court at the time. frank: 1984. hon. stevens: 1984. when we discussed it at conference, there was disagreement among us. bill brennan and warren burger thought, well the court of appeals with, i think, ruth ginsburg, had set aside an agency ruling. brennan and berger, among others, thought that was the right thing to do. that judges should

as was noted in the aftermath of 9/11, the e.p.a. told new yorkers and first responders that the air at ground zero and surrounding area was safe to breathe. the federal government was wrong. my colleagues, this was not a hurricane or a flood or a tornado. this was the largest terrorist attack ever on american soil. as jon stewart testified before the house judiciary committee, these terrorists weren't saying death to tribeca. this was the attack on all of us as americans and we all should be voting yes today it as americans. but yet we are forcing sick first responders to come to washington, d.c., to beg for benefits that they earned and were promised. last month luis alvarez was one of those first responders who after his appearance in d.c. rushed home for his 69th round of chemo. unfortunately, he immediately ended up in hospice and passed away. he shouldn't have had to come down here to fight on behalf of all these other victims and first responders in the first place. month after month, year after year, going back to the first ti

>> the fact that these companies are committed to california's standards and regardless of what the e.p.a. does, i will continue to assert that they have the right, and california has the right, to establish them. and they will manufacture to those standards. >> the trump administration responded to that, saying the federal government should set the standards, not a single state. >>> time is 4:15. a first of its kind coalition to dewith san francisco, expects to start creating new housing very soon. hundpeople attended the kickoff campaign in debose park and called it all in. it includes labor companies, tech companies, nonprofits, air b&b and the san francisco giants. they want to find housing for 1100 people within two years. their plan could face opposition, though. because almost all of the homeless programs are in the tenderloin, the bayview or south market. all-in is proposing all districts, which could include some affluent areas of san francisco. >> people say, i don't want homeless people living next to me. well, guess what? if they're housed, they're no longer homeless. they're

the potential of geothermal energy these children are visiting a municipal owned company called the e.p.a. which directly harness is. in many ways typical of small town southern germany but it's made a name for itself on a national level for being a trailblazer in the area of geothermal energy. i.e. peace biggest client is the multinational linda which does some of its business in poorer. for a firm with such a large operation and having a reliable heating network is a top priority. management points to the benefits of large companies switching to this type of system. linda linda has to focus on environmental protection and show an awareness of its carbon footprint with the believe geothermal energy can reduce that carbon footprint to a fraction of what it used to be for. the children get to see how the geothermal energy is harnessed oh. this is the small this is the drilling point number 2 number one is over there the water that comes out of them both has a temperature of over 100 degrees the pipes are warm to the touch. the water is extracted from layers of rock 3 kilometers underground

[applause] we have refocused the e.p.a. back on its core mission. st year the agency completed more superfund hazardous waste cleanups than any year of the previous administration's. and set records in almost every year. we have done tremendous work on superfunds. to name two examples we made great strides cleaning up damage near a paper plant in kalamazoo, michigan. something that was beyond fixup. they thought it was never going to happen. and also the west lake land phil in missouri. -- landfill in missouri. we have $65 million in brown field grants to clean up even more contaminated sites in 149 american communities. think of that. the vast majority home to lower income citizens. that's some project. [applause] that is some project. for the first time in nearly 30 years, we are in the process of strengthening national drinking water standards to protect vulnerable children from lead and copper exposure. something that has not been done and we are doing it. last month our e.p.a. took the first major action nearly two decades to reduce exposure to

for example, the e.p.a. administrator told the public that asbestos could be cleaned from apartments with a damp cloth and wet mop. based on these false assurances, students were sent back to schools that had been contaminated with the toxic dust cloud without ventilation systems being cleaned first. people kept working to clear the pile for months with no protective equipment. quite simply the federal government lied and now tens of thousands of people are sick with a 9/11 related illness. it now nalls to us -- falls to us in the words of abraham lincoln to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan. three times congress has come together to provide a health program and compensation for the victims of 9/11 through a victims compensation fund or v.c.f. most recently in 2015 we made the world trade center health program effectively permanent, extended to 2090. but re-authorized the v.c.f., victims compensation fund, for only five years. as we heard in a judiciary committee hearin

want to share with you the words of president richard nixon, who is credited with the creation of the e.p.a. here is what he had to say about our environment. president nixon: in the next 10 years, we shall increase our wealth by 50%. the profound question is, does this mean we will be 50% richer in a real sense, 50% better off, 50% happier, or does it mean that in the year 1980, the president, standing in this place, will look back on a decade in which 70% of our people lived in metropolitan areas choked by traffic, suffocated by smog, poisoned by water, deafened by noise and terrorized by crime? these are not the great questions that concern world leaders at summit conferences, but people do not live at the summit. they live in the foothills of everyday experience, and it is time for all of us to concern ourselves with the way real people live in real life. the great question of the 1970's is, shall we surrender to our surroundings or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water? >> from a state of

add that to the fact that his e.p.a. who's been out for about a year now, environmental activists don't like the person who is replacing him, andrew wheeler. so there is some sort of confusion i think about this speech. administration officials did not respond to officials about ivanka trump's role and to why and whether and how she had involvement in this speech. but a spokesman for the white house did say that, hey, this has been in the works for a while, essentially saying if they're confused, that's not our problem, that's theirs, if you will. >> i just heard from my executive producer, i will just ask her to confirm if i didn't get this right. but apparently donald trump says he is going to do july 4th, this time he's going to do the on the mall. what's the sense you got from the white house about how that all went last week? >> reporter: well, the president liked it, and that's the most important thing in this white house, even though the was pouring rain intimately throughout the program. this is something that the

so they eliminated the c.d.c., the e.p.a., the f.d.a., the department of human health and services. the result is just that things have been buried for so long. there are now over, believe it or not, 27,000 studies that show the impact and the danger of what we are facing here. this is so dramatic. birds are dying, bees are dying. they are affected 95% more than humans. we are having great a fax. just to give you a small example , i do walk around with an rf and e.n.f. meter. i also have had pg and e. he come to my home. he said that the sidewalk was off scale. that was back, that was six years ago. 5g is now starting to be rolled out in san francisco, and i've recently found that my feet are burning. the heat is so intense that i have some units that help to absorb the electromagnetic fields. i decided to measure, so i am walking along the street, and the measurements are quite high seconds. >> sure. the meter that i have goes from zero to 50 is okay, 50 to 100 is considered not healthy, 100 to 250 is considered severe, over 200 to 500 is considered critical. my measurement, as i w

be called to account for those promises and a lot of her conservative colleagues for instance in the e.p.a. the european people's party may not like the promises that she's made but more widely than that her support was drawn from right across the political spectrum sometimes just in pockets all the way from the socialists to the nationalists the polish law and order party victor or bans government party in hungary which will complicate her promise as i say to stand down on rule of law to stand up rather for rule of law and in the process building a european union based on european values drawing a line under and against those who would seek to divide it from within i think for a lie and a way for thin majority she's got here is going to have quite a ride getting into the job of being commission president the top job in the european union of course and she is the 1st woman to hold it and aside from that difference how different in style you think she'll be from. well if they have been. comments and allegations over the past 5 years that there is a commission president of the pockets of hea

and regardless of what the e.p.a. does, i will continue to assert that they have the right, and california has the right, to establish them. and they will manufacture to those standards. >> the trump administration has responded, saying the federal government should set standards, not a single state. >>> time is 5-17. the first of its kind coalition dealing with homelessness in san francisco, expects to start creating new housing soon. hundreds attended the kickoff campaign at dubose park and called the coalition all? in includes tech companies, air b&b, and san francisco giants. they want to find housing for 1100 people within two years. but their plan could face opposition, because almost all of the homeless programs are in the tenderloin, the bayview. all in wants low income all over san francisco. >>> another zip trip this time to sunnyvale. the ktvu team, taking over historic murphy avenue for a live broadcast at 9:00 a.m. mike and gasia will be chatting with mayor larry kline about sunnyvale's place in the heart

the mission is being diluted, whether it's the e.p.a., department of agriculture, the labor departmentthe justice department. and that is one of the remarkably terrible impacts of this administration. >> is there -- obviously when an administration changes, these departments are led by career people. so, you know, when -- who is it who was carrying on about how the unemployment numbers were fudged. and i think you and i discussed the fact that the people who calculate these numbers are career experts. they have zero interest in fudging numbers. when the top of the department deregulates agencies that are meant to be regulatory agencies, how far down does that filter? are there still people at the department of labor who will do the job that the mission of the labor department says that they are there to do? >> i have profound respect for the dedicated career professionals at the labor department. i was a career attorney at the justice department. i have profound respect for folks there. those career lawyers at the justice department, they've got twisted into a vice by barr in connectio

in fact, the chamber in 2010 sued the e.p.a. to overturn the finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. you would think it would be obvious that they did. look around and you will see that they do. but disabling the endangerment finding would cripple the agency's ability to regulate carbon pollution under the clean air act and so off went the chamber. when the courts rejected this lawsuit on the endangerment finding, then the chamber became central command for corporate lawyers, coal lobbyists and republican political strategists to devise legal schemes to fight climate regulation. this produced another chamber lawsuit to block the clean power plan, reducing carbon pollution from power plants. once president trump took office the chamber went from defense to offense and attacked many obama administration rules limiting carbon pollution. the chamber even funded the phony report, the trump administration used to justify leaving the paris accord. and perhaps worst of all, the chamber has fought against

ronmental and public health groups argued it has been linked to neurological damage in children but the e.p.aid critical questions remain about that claim. farm and industry groups welcomed the decision, but pporters of a ban are expected to fight it in court. back in this country, a federal judge in new york denied bail day for financier jeffre epstein on sex-trafficking chargeof he is accusexploiting dozens of underage girls in new york and florida ithe early 2000s. epstein was silent as the judge refused to l him await trial at his manhattan mansion. later, a lawyer who is representing some of theictims commended the judge's action. >> only taking away the freedom of jeffrey epstein can we restore the freedom of these victims. they have been living in fear and intidation since the day they were abused by him, and now he is in jail. >> woodruff: prosecutoued that epstein was a danger to the community and could be a flight risk, and the judge said he agreed. puerto rico's governor, ricardo rossello, insisted today that he will not step down, despite protests roiling the u.s. territory. viole

to date, however, the e.p.a. has yet to act to set standards under the clean water act. that's why this amendment is needed. in my home district in new hampshire, we are grappling with this issue in a number of communities. in the town of merrimack, industrial pollution from a manufacturer has contaminated drinking water that thousands relied on. at the air force base on the sea coast, pfas chemicals have been used by the military for decades and have been detected in the surrounding environment as well as private and municipal wells. my constituents have become far too familiar with the impacts of living in communities where these toxic chemicals are present. this is more than just a matter of tests and data sets and parts per trillion in the abstract. the burdens of these chemicals are carried by real people. i hear their stories first-hand. a woman who has taken an active role on the front lines of this fight and who contacted my office recently worked at the air force base for almost 10 years. her son was exposed to pfas prenatally and for five years while attending

burning metal, crushed glass, crurked electronics -- crushed electronics, toxics breathed in that the e.p.a. told them the air was safe. these heroes have since had to quit their jobs doing the jobs that they love, providing for the families they love because they're too sick. they've had to give up their income. they've had to give up their dreams. they've had to give up their future. they've had to face the terrifying reality that they are actually going to die because what they did on 9/11 and the months thereafter. and as if that wasn't a great enough burden, they had to use their most precious commodity, time. time away from their families, time away from their friends, time away from their children, from their loved ones, from their community to do what? to come here. to come here to walk the halls of congress, to go to office after office to ask that this body and this government stand by them in their greatest time of need, to ask for the basic compensation that they have earned and deserve, to ask for the health care that could actually keep them alive maybe another year longer and

that's why we need to update the e.p.a.'s emissions modeling to reflect ethanol's 40% reduction in life cycle greenhouse gases which will boost its export potential, and most pressing, the administration needs to curb the issuance of small refinery waivers which are in part forcing ethanol plants to slow down, idle, or shutter across america's heartland. this is critical to seeing through the president's commitment to farmers. mr. president, throughout my time in the senate, i have been proud to advocate for elsworth air force base near rapid city, south dakota. i spent years working with the other members of the south dakota delegation in elsworth and community leaders to build up elsworth. among other things, our efforts resulted in the expansion of the powder river training complex into the largest training airspace in the continental united states, and it's undoubtedly partly thanks to this airspace that this may, elsworth was chosen as the first home for the future b-21 bomber, hosting both training and operational squa

states that these session meeting of the board of governors and supported the prison vision of the chase e.p.a. and also deplored the unilateralism the majority of the board members and also the observer member states requested all parties to the j c th implement their own obligations on the deal food effective. the majority in the board actually made it very clear that these issues are not safeguards related issues these are obligations and issues related to the implementation of the j c.p.a. and the board of governors is not an appropriate forum to discuss these issues that are not elected to darya under-served court obligations of iran so this was also was made very very clear by a majority of the members in the meeting of the court of governors and last but not the least is there was no formal outcome of this meeting. that was the intention of the united states actually to have some formal outcome it meant there was no can. by the chair of the world of governors because it was the perseverance in decisions of the board of governors that these had the conclusion by the chair of the governor

we've refocused the e.p.a. back on its core mission and last year the agency completed more superfund has it is waist line ups than any year of the previous administrations and set records at almost every year we have done tremendous work on super funds to name just 2 examples we've made great strides leaning up damage near a paper plant in kalamazoo michigan something that was beyond fix up they thought it was never going to happen and also the westlake landfill in missouri. this year we've also directed $65000000000.00 in brownfield grants to clean up even more contaminated sites in $149.00 american communities think of that the vast majority home to lower income citizens at some crotchety that is some project and for the 1st time in nearly 30 years we're in the process of strengthening national drinking water standards to protect vulnerable children from lead and copper exposure is something that has not been done and we're doing it at the last month our e.p.a. took the 1st major action nearly 2 decades to re

the president on climate change. all 13 agencies -- department of energy, e.p.a., department of state is 13 -- all had to come together. here's what they concluded. that if we do not change what we are doing right now, that the planet will warm by nine degrees fahrenheit by the year 2100. let's say that again. the planet will warm by nine degrees fahrenheit between now and 2100, 81 years from now. in other words, the pages who are here in the well of the house right now will live through this entire story as it unfolds, if we continuing with business as usual. and, interestingly, the consequences are not those that the deniers want us to know, because all 13 agencies concluded that there could be an upwards of -- get ready for this -- 11-foot rise in the ocean in the northeastern part of the united states. think about that. is -- 11 feet higher. the impact would be catastrophic. our pages will live through this entire story unless we change what we're doing in our country, unless we change what the united states senate does to put preventive measures in place. what senator whitehouse is saying is, wake up. the science

e.p.a. administrator. these are the sorts of important but lower-profile positions the senate used to quickly process on a voice vote. when these sorts of people were qualified, they were voice voted by senates of both parties for presidents of both parties. that was the norm. but new partisan hurdles won't deter the senate from doing our job. we'll continue to spend the time it takes to put imprsive, impartial men and women on the federal judiciary and give the president more than two years into his administration, finally, more of his team in place in the executive branch. yesterday afternoon, we voted to advance the nomination of daniel bress to serve on the u.s. court of appeals for the ninth circuit. mr. bress comes with strong credentials, the academic pedigree, the legal experience, and most importantly, a demonstrated commitment to the rule of law. so i'm glad we voted to advance his nomination yesterday and i would urge all of my colleagues to vote to confirm him later today. next we'll consider three district

e.p.a. told them the air was safe. this bill is a signal from our nation from this body, from congress that we are representing people in all 50 states, that the senate will live up to the words they have said over and over again. never forget, that we will never forget our 9/11 heroes, that we will never stop helping them when they are in need --. the presiding officer: the senator's time is expired. mrs. gillibrand: we  will pass this bill once and for all for them so they can get back home, where they belong. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the bill for the third time. the clerk: h.r. 1327, an act to extend authorization for the september 11th victim compensation fund of 2001 through fiscal year 2092 and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the question occurs on passage of the bill. is there a sufficient second? there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote: is not the presiding officer: expression of approval is not permitted in the chamber. vote: the presidi

the e.p.a. to set significant policy concessions that i believe would have allowed the senate minority to agree to a more expeditious confirmation process for mr. wright. i worked diligently until the closing of the last congress, right until the bitter end to achieve that objective. so i've done good-faith with other e.p.a. nominees. in fact, the very last nominee confirmed in the last congress was the e.p.a. nominee to head the agency's tribal office, tad mcintosh. in this office the e.p.a. has refused to golgt with my office -- to negotiate with my office. on this point, on this nomination. the agency no longer agrees to the policy concessions that i previously secured and to which they had previously committed in the last congress. while this has been a real disappointment for me, it's hardly a surprise given this increasingly extreme policy and tones of this e.p.a. second, the e.p.a. under mr. wright's leadership has failed to advance a critical policy to me in the regulation of pfas chemica

when the e.p.a. sent the requested information to the ambassador, they included her spouse on the response. in addition to official calendars, mr. craft participated in at least four meetings with u.s. or canadian government energy and environmental officials. the potential of conflict are staggering. the nomination of miss craft to this position underscores the trump administration's total lack of respect for the work of our diplomacy, our diplomats and for the united nations. taken together, ambassador craft's lack of experience, her dereliction of duty and excessive absences in ottawa and her unwillingness to address potential conflicts of interest render her unfit to serve as our ambassador to the united nations. in a world of growing challenges, the american people deserve a serious, thoughtful, proven leader to represent their interests at the united nations. they deserve a leader who can leverage the united nations to advance our national security interests and ultimately build a safer, more s

clearly, it would also help if we -- if we simply got the corps and the e.p.a. to agree that the decision ten years ago or so was made incorrectly and let us have what -- what the rest of the system has, and that is a flood control promise that gives us certainty that we can conduct our business -- have a home, conduct our lives as it was promised. that's all we're asking for. and for seven months this year and for weeks and months in previous years, we have been denied that. so i want to congratulate -- associate myself with the remarks of the junior senator from mississippi, to thank her for her leadership in thinking of this particular solution which would give us a remedy, but also to say that there are other ways that this could be solved. we deserve this certainty that everyone else up and down the mississippi system now has, and we deserve for that promise made to us back in the 1940's to be fulfilled even at this late date. so i would -- i would yield the floor and thank my colleague for her leadership. a mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding office