Environment

WASHINGTON—Today, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) joined with Representative Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.-47), Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Representative Katherine Clark (D-Mass.-5), and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) to introduce the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020, legislation that would phase out unnecessary single-use plastic products, hold corporations accountable for wasteful products, reduce wasteful packaging, and reform our broken waste and recycling collection system.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a member of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, today announced that the University of Memphis' Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI) will receive a $675,000 grant from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The funding supports CERI's cooperative agreement with USGS in operating the Advanced National Seismic System.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today questioned expert witnesses at a hearing on "An Update on the Climate Crisis: From Science to Solution" before the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Congressman Cohen asked about the health consequences of extreme heat and air pollution, the impact of climate change in terms of the extinction of rare species and the impact of plastic pollution in the world's oceans.

Toward the end of his questioning, Congressman Cohen, an advocate of banning single-use plastic bottles and eating utensils, said:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today voted for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that modernizes the trade arrangements between the three countries by updating and improving provisions of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). USMCA was made significantly stronger than the text that the President originally presented thanks to months of tireless work by Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Neal and the USMCA Working Group.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a member of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, today questioned Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler on his decision in April to disregard the advice of his agency's own scientists by issuing a rule that restricted but did not ban asbestos. Congressman Cohen led a letter with 33 Congressional colleagues questioning that decision.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) questioned Dave Ross, Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Water, about the agency's retreat from protections of groundwater and, in particular, coal ash contamination. See the exchange here.

Congressman Cohen noted that Tennessee has a serious problem with coal ash contamination and that he and his colleague, Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN-02), have been working to shine light on it.

WASHINGTON – In light of yesterday's announcement that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposal to continue to weaken safeguards for coal ash piles, Congressmen Steve Cohen (TN-09), Bobby Rush (IL-01), John Sarbanes (MD-03), and David Price (NC-04) wrote a letter to Andrew Wheeler, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), signed by 27 fellow Members of Congress.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), and Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01) and Betty McCollum (MN-04) led a letter with 32 other representatives to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler asking for an explanation of why the agency disregarded the advice of its own scientists by issuing a rule restricting but not banning asbestos, a known carcinogen. See the letter here.

The letter reads in part: