Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, made the following remarks regarding six bills approved by the Committee in a full committee business meeting today:

Senator Boxer said: "Clean water is essential to our economy, our environment, and the health of our children and families. Today the Environment and Public Works Committee took historic steps to restore, in a balanced way, the common-sense Clean Water Act protections that have been in place for decades. We also passed important measures to ensure our families have clean, safe water, to promote conservation of migratory birds, and to protect America's beaches, lakes, rivers, bays and wetlands. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle as these bills are considered by the full Senate."

The committee approved the following six measures:

· S. 787, the Clean Water Restoration Act (Baucus/Boxer/Klobuchar Substitute)
· S. 878, Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act of 2009 (formerly known as the Beach Protection Act)
· S. 937, Sewage Overflow Community Right-to-Know Act
· S. 690, Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Reauthorization
· S. 479, Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network Continuing Authorization Act
· S. 933, Contaminated Sediment Remediation Reauthorization Act (Great Lakes Legacy Act)

The bills now go to the full Senate for consideration.

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