Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a member of the Natural Resources Committee and its Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife, today participated in a virtual hearing on “DDT Dumping Off the Southern California Coast: Ecological Impacts, Scientific Needs, and Next Steps.” Today is Ocean Day, recognized every June 8 to call attention to our oceans’ importance in sustaining a healthy planet.
Addressing Subcommittee Chairman Jared Huffman of California, Congressman Cohen recalled spending some of his childhood in Pasadena and the concerns at the time about the impact of DDT, a chemical insecticide, on the rare California Condor.
In his remarks, Congressman Cohen said:
“What I’ve gotten out of this Subcommittee hearing, and I appreciate your having it, is that we as a species use the ocean as a dumping ground and a garbage pool, and we need to stop it…It has been a disaster to our environment, to our health, and will continue to be for generations to come. We need to have a Green New Deal, and we need to fight climate change, and we need to wake up and re-orient ourselves to the next generation and what’s left of ours. There’s a lot we need to do.”
See the entire statement here.
Witnesses at today’s hearing were:
- Secretary Jared Blumenfeld, California Secretary for Environmental Protection, California Environmental Protection Agency;
- Dr. Lihini Aluwihare, Professor and Chemical Oceanographer, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego;
- Dr. Eunha Hoh, Professor and Division Head, Environmental Health School of Public Health, San Diego State University;
- Mr. Michael Parmer, Assistant City Manager, City of Avalon, California.
