Click here or the image above to watch Ranking Member Capito’s opening remarks.
BECKLEY, W.Va. – Today, the Senate
Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee held the first of a two-part hearing series focusing on the
unique challenges that small, disadvantaged, and rural communities face in
accessing and maintaining drinking water and wastewater services.
Below is the committee
hearing opening statement of Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), as
prepared for delivery:
“Thank you, Chairman
Carper.
“It’s a real honor for me
to be here with my chairman, Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, and also here with
my fellow senator from West Virginia, Senator Joe Manchin.
“I think the fact that
Senator Manchin joined us as a partner here today shows not just how well
Senator Manchin and I work together representing West Virginia, but also how
our two committees—Senator Manchin is the chairman of the Energy and Natural
Resources Committee—Senator Carper and I are over on EPW. There’s a lot of
crossover between different areas of interest, so I thank you for coming today.
“Welcome home to Senator
Carper. I think you can tell the good solid upbringing that Raleigh County
brought to Senator Carper still holds dear to his heart and also the values
that he embraces, I think, probably his entire life, were rooted here his
entire life.
“I also want to thank
Judge Poling for letting us use his court room today. I also want to thank all
of the people that work for him, as well as the sheriffs and the deputies for
providing securities we need and have asked for. I want to thank my staff,
Senator Carper’s staff, and I want to thank the press for covering this. This is
important for our state, and we have some good witnesses here today.
“I’m not going to go back
through a lot of what Senator Carper already said about the specifics of the
bill that we passed, but I do have an opening statement. And I do want to again
talk about where my area of interest has been is when you’re looking at small
and disadvantaged rural communities—when you’re trying to look at funding
mechanisms and ways to deliver what we all take for granted in some sources,
but some people wake up in the morning and can’t, and that’s safe and clean
drinking water.
“We did pass that
legislation off the Senate floor with a resounding bipartisan vote of 89 to 2.
“One of the questions I
get all of the time is, ‘Do you all ever do anything together?’ The sad note
about that is that we do a lot together, but it doesn’t get the publicity—we
don’t talk a lot about the good things we do.
“In these areas that we
are looking at—roads, bridges, water, broadband—we have great consensus.
“So, we’re waiting for the
House to pass the bipartisan infrastructure package, of which this water bill
is part of this, but also a lot of other really good things that will be great
for not just West Virginia, but also for Delaware.
“One of the reasons
Senator Carper and I get along so well is because the fact that we are from
small states. He knows that we know each other.
“There are many critical
water infrastructure needs the Environment and Public Works Committee has heard
about, and we need to address these right now.
“I look forward to hearing
the perspectives from our witnesses, and I thank them for coming.
“Every day Americans rely
on the infrastructure that supports our wastewater systems.
“These are the systems
that this nation prides itself on: providing access to clean water at the turn
of a handle.
“We are facing critical
challenges in the resilience of these systems, with many of our small and rural
communities being disproportionately affected by the wide array of water
infrastructure challenges.
“Small and rural
communities are particularly strained and need additional support to ensure
protection and availability of this vital resource.
“Many systems in this
great state of West Virginia are very old, and some of our systems don’t even
know where their piping is because the infrastructure predate mapping records.
“Importantly though, these
challenges are not unique to one state.
"I am committed to
continue addressing the challenges facing this nation’s water infrastructure
expeditiously, in a bipartisan fashion, and with a holistic approach.
“I believe ensuring
reliable, modern water infrastructure is a fundamental responsibility of
government.
“That’s why the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act
provides some of this.
“The programs and funding
in DWWIA provide solutions ranging
from ensuring that systems have pipes that don’t leak, to ensuring that there
is a sustainable water workforce in place to maintain and operate continued and
new infrastructure investments, to ensuring that there is tailored funding for
the resilience and sustainability of small and rural systems, like many of
those in West Virginia.
“We provided a robust,
bipartisan, piece of legislation that created a toolbox of solutions.
“As I said, the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act
was included entirely and verbatim in the bipartisan infrastructure bill which
has been awaiting a vote in the House for over two months.
“I’m hopeful our
colleagues across the aisle will address this bipartisan legislation very soon.
“So again, I am very
pleased and honored that you are here.”
# # #