Federal law sets uniform standards requiring industry to remove toxic poisons from wastewater the would otherwise pass through untouched by municipal sewage treatment plants. Without uniform federal environmental standards, many cities and states would feel pressured to weaken their pollution rules in order to compete with their neighbors for new industry.

This vote is on the Strangeland (R-MN) Amendment to allow up to 40 municipalities to set their own standards for industrial "pre-treatment." Although Rep. Strangeland claimed that local standards would have had to be as effective as federal standards, it would have been impossible to guarantee that result, and local governments could clearly have permitted more toxics to be dumped into our waterways.

Strangeland Amendment rejected 167-257; July 23, 1985. NO is the pro-environmental vote. (Strangeland Amendment to H.R. 8, Clean Water Act Reauthorization.) Both the House and Senate passed Clean Water Act legislation in 1985, but final passage did not occur until October 1986. Although passed unanimously by both Houses, President Reagan pocket-vetoed the bill.