256 
STATEMENT OF HON. PAUL G. ROGERS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA 
Mr. Rogers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the 
committee. | 
I am pleased to be here. I feel very strongly that the various bills 
which the subcommittee considers will, if enacted, go a long way 
toward restoring our total environment to a much more desirable and 
healthful level. 
I think that the main thrust of each of these bills is to in some way 
restore our environment to a level which was once enjoyed but which 
has now been relegated to memory in the minds of many Americans. 
I deeply regreat and personally resent the fact that more and more 
bodies of water which our generation enjoyed, are being denied our 
children. We can no longer fish in many of our inland waters which 
used to be a source of revenue and recreation. We are also losing 
portions of our great oceans to pollution. 
I think we have heard the old argument and have seen the fallacy 
of the statement that “this or that body of water is too fast-moving 
or too large to pollute.” 
We have seen the Mississippi River fall to that theory. We saw 
Lake Erie age 12,000 years in four decades and now we see the Atlantic — 
Ocean fast becoming the world’s largest cesspool. 
We need not look far for evidence of our indifference and greed. 
The Potomac River, a national river if ever there was one, is polluted. 
And even the basin which reflects the Jefferson Memorial is posted as 
polluted. Rock Creek is unfit for wading or swimming. 
And in each case cited, there are two considerations. First, the health 
and pleasure of the citizen, and second, the fish, wildlife, and ecology 
of the body of water and the effect it has on the nearby environment. 
I would hasten to add that this is not a regional problem. Florida 
cities have adopted out-fall sewer programs with such vigor that the 
Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Okeechobee and many of 
her rivers and waterways are producing fish kills and no swimming 
signs instead of the bounty which millions of natives and tourists have 
enjoyed for hundreds of years. 
Mr. Chairman, I would like first to touch briefly on two of the three 
bills which are being considered here today, H.R. 19077 and H.R. 
19088. 
Basically, H.R. 19088 establishes the machinery and protocol which 
will insure that we never have another nerve gas dumping in the 
waterways of this Nation or offshore in the oceans. In addition, H.R. 
19088 has provisions requiring that the Department of Defense cata- 
log all its weaponry of a chemical radiological and biological nature. 
Thus we will know when these dangerous instruments are, or should, 
reach their shelf life, giving us a good indication when they should 
be disposed of. 
Another provision in H.R. 19088 will require that each biological 
and chemical weapon be subject to de-militarization. This means that 
after a CBW is accepted by the military, a plan capable of breaking 
down that CBW must be available. I feel that this will enlarge the 
odds in favor of the public—the odds which the Department of De-- 
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