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Speier blasts Trump over Cargill decision

San Mateo Daily Journal, March 13, 2019

EPA determines salt ponds exempt from protection, development talks restart


By Zachary Clark Daily Journal staff
March 13, 2019

U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier took to the House floor Tuesday to admonish the Trump administration for declaring the Cargill salt ponds in Redwood City exempt from certain federal protections — a move that has reopened the door to development of the site.

“I’m outraged, but not surprised the political appointees in the EPA’s Washington office have decided that the Redwood City salt ponds in my district do not include waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act,” she said in a video of her floor speech. “[The EPA determination] is completely in line with this administration’s record of gutting environmental protections in the name of corporate interests.” 

Speier, D-San Mateo, described the EPA’s determination, announced earlier this month, as a “180-degree political flip flop” from the agency’s 2016 determination on the site. That determination was made by EPA Region 9 and is outlined in a 66-page draft document that hasn’t been available to the public until Tuesday when Speier published it on her website.

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