Milne, Thomas L., Executive Director, National Association of County and Schultz, Ronald N., Legal Director, City of Rockford, Illinois, report, A Local Sullivan, Thomas M., Regulatory Policy Counsel, National Federation of Inde- Letter to Chairman Boehlert from the National Federation of Independent Letter to Hon. Dennis Hastert, Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives, Letter to Carol M. Browner, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Page 128 240 283 287 289 U.S. Conference of Mayors, report, Recycling America's Land, A National 145 ADDITIONS TO THE RECORD National Association of Attorneys General, comments on H.R. 1300, and a resolution on Superfund Reauthorization adopted June 22-26, 1997 ............ (IV) 297 H.R. 1300, THE RECYCLE AMERICA'S LAND ACT OF 1999 Wednesday, May 12, 1999 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:13 a.m., in room 2167 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Sherwood Boehlert [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding. Mr. BOEHLERT. [presiding] Good afternoon and welcome to the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee. Today we will hear why meaningful Brownfields and Superfund reform is needed and how these objectives can be achieved. For those who said meaningful bipartisan reform was impossible, I present the Recycle America's Land Act, H.R. 1300. This legislation has 52 cosponsors, 27 of which are Democrats. It is truly a bipartisan product, painstakingly developed to bring us specific, targeted reform. Before I proceed any further, I want to thank the 52 Membersand I might add that this list is growing-who have cosponsored Recycle America's Land Act. I must also note that the Recycle America's Land Act has strong support within our Republican Conference. Five full Committee Chairmen are cosponsors of the legislation, and the list goes on. The American people sent us to Washington to solve problems and I am proud that this committee on both sides of the aisle has again stepped up to the plate. I also want to take this opportunity to thank America's Mayors, particularly, businessmen, small businessmen, union workers, and farmers for working with us to not only develop the Recycle America's Land Act, but also in spreading the word on the need for this critical legislation. I would like to share with all of you a list of those now strongly supporting the legislation and the list is long: the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Conference of Black Mayors, National Federation of Independent Business, National Auto Dealers Association, National Association of Realtors, the list goes on and on. With the support H.R. 1300 enjoys on this committee, in this Congress, and outside Washington, D.C., I am going to redouble my efforts to deliver this legislation to the President's desk. In fact, it is my intention to complete the Subcommittee markup of this legislation before the Memorial Day recess and I fully expect that we will be able to complete the Full Committee markup before that (1) Memorial Day recess. And with good cause, because when we go back home, Mayors, business people, gas station owners, people all over this country are going to be asking us: What are you doing about Superfund reform? We will be able to hold our heads high and say we are moving forward with meaningful, specifically targeted Superfund reform. But I must confess some disappointment. We belatedly received the Administration's position paper last night, testimony from Administrator Browner, with whom I have worked so closely over the years. You know, it really is a little bit unfair to the Committee to get at the last minute the statement, but I understand there are complications in delivering testimony to the Hill. Disappointed in the sense that we have worked closely, we have worked long, we have worked hard. We repeatedly have heard from Mr. Borski, from Administrator Browner, from others last year that we were this close and I am talking about millimeters apart in real terms, and yet nothing happened. Then, today, we will hear Ms. Browner's testimony and it is not as positive as I would like. And that disappoints me too and it surprises me. It surprises me in view of the fact that yesterday the President of the United States in Atlanta challenged America to come forward, challenged America's corporations to come forward and said: Help us redevelop our inner cities. Help us redevelop those areas where jobs are needed most. And let me tell you, we accepted that challenge in this committee on a bipartisan basis long before it was issued. We are trying to do precisely that. That is why it is so important that we have the Superfund reform legislation with the brownfields section that we have in there. That is why we have such strong support from our Nation's Mayors. I have accepted the challenge of the Vice President of the United States, long before it was issued, to address the legitimate concern about urban sprawl, about the flee of jobs and businesses from our inner cities where the jobs are needed most, out to the green fields and development chaos out there. That is why we need this specific, this targeted Superfund reform. So we have worked long and hard to get there today. I am very proud of the fact that this is not a partisan effort. I stand second to none in being proud of my affiliation with my party, just as Mr. Borski and my colleagues on the Democrat side are very proud of their affiliation with their party. But the point is public policy comes first and we have to be responsible and we are being responsible on a bipartisan basis. I would point out: We have equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats cosponsoring this. This is not weighted to one side or another. Every time a new Republican comes on, a new Democrat comes on. Every time a new Democrat comes on, a new Republican comes on. Twelve members, Democrats, on this committee, proudly identify with this legislation. They have been part of the process, as has the Black Caucus, as has the New Democrats, as has the Blue Dogs, as has the Tuesday Group, as has every single faction that we could deal with. We have reached out; we have embraced them. We have said: Come, let us reason together. And you have that product before you today: H.R. 1300. I couldn't be prouder of it. I have just come from a press conference with our Nation's Mayors. Mayor Morial of New Orleans; Mayor Turner of Dayton, Ohio; Mayor Marshall of Macon, Georgia. They all stood up there and said how strongly they feel in support of this legislation. They pointed out that just this week they have sent a letter to the President, signed by people like Mayor Daley of Chicago and other very prominent national Democrats, supporting this measure. So we are very encouraged as we move forward and we want from the Administration—and I hope we will get from the Administrator of EPA today-an expression of the right attitude, of how we can work together to fashion something that is desperately needed. Let me tell you, Madam Administrator, I give great credit to the Administration on what it has done administratively to improve this program. You deserve our praise. You deserve a pat on the back for what you have done administratively. But I will tell you something. That is not enough. We want to codify what you have done. We want to put it in hard and fast legislation for all to see so that the legacy that you will leave will be implemented and somebody will resist the temptation in the future to undo the good that has been done. So we are proud to acknowledge where you do good work and we say that we want to do good work together in going forward. And, with that, I am proud to leave this microphone and turn it over to the distinguished Ranking Member from the City of Brotherly Love, Mr. Borski. Mr. BORSKI. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And I want to first commend you for your leadership on this Superfund issue and all environmental issues. You have been a true environmentalist and a true leader for this Congress. I appreciate very much also today the opportunity you have given our guests to present their views. I am delighted that Ms. Browner is here for the EPA and the environmental community will have a say as well as other guests and I think that that is crucial if we are ever going to try to complete this work, this very difficult job that we have. I think it is important for us to listen to the people who have experience in the field, find out what their problems may be with legislation, and, perhaps, find a way that we can complete the circle, get down what is doable, and get a bill to the President's desk that we can all be proud of. Mr. Chairman, too often the success of the Superfund program is lost in partisan rhetoric. Too often we hear that Superfund has cleaned up only a handful of sites nationwide. Well, thanks to the hard work of Administrator Browner and her leadership, I am here to state that the Superfund program today is no longer the Superfund program of the early 1990's. Today, over 90 percent of the sites on the National Priority List are either undergoing cleanup construction or have construction underway. Of the 1386 Superfund sites, 599 have had all cleanup construction completion. An additional 464 sites have cleanup construction underway, shovels in the ground. An additional 208 sites have had or are undergoing other cleanup activities which proceed to a permanent solution. Having cleanup completed or underway at 1248 sites out of 1386 is quite a handful. Mr. Chairman, look at how far we have come with the current Superfund program in place. With so few sites remaining to enter the program, now is not the time to reverse course and cause unwarranted and unnecessary confusion and delays in cleanup, as well as an increase, rather than a decrease, in the frequency of litigation. While I am not saying that the current Superfund program is by any means perfect, it is working. Most stakeholders are comfortable with the predictability of the current system. Our task, Mr. Chairman, is to find those quick fixes agreed upon by all various stakeholders which we can accomplish without turning the Superfund program on its head. I look forward to hearing the testimony of today's witnesses. We can learn much from the experience of the Administration, our locally elected leaders, and from representatives of the environmental and business community. And, of course, any Superfund discussion will concern both the successes and failures of the program. Fortunately in the current environment, the successes outnumber the failures. I hope that this subcommittee can build upon these successes and look forward to working with you, Mr. Chairman, to that goal. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. BOEHLERT. Thank you very much, Mr. Borski. Now here we have got an unusual situation-well, it is not all that unusual for Washington, D.C. The Administrator has a heavy schedule and the next panel of the Nation's Mayors have a heavy schedule. They have transportation commitments. And so, therefore, we are going to defer any further statements until after the Mayors' testimony and then all my colleagues will be given an opportunity to have any statement they might wish to have for the record. And, with that, we will go directly to the Administrator. It is a pleasure to welcome you back here. MS. BROWNER. Thank you. Mr. BOEHLERT. As an aside, let me offer my condolences for the poor record of the Baltimore Orioles, but Ms. BROWNER. What about the Marlins? Mr. BOEHLERT. Madam Administrator, welcome. TESTIMONY OF CAROL M. BROWNER, ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, WASHINGTON, D.C. Ms. BROWNER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I appreciate the opportunity to once again appear before this subcommittee and to work with you and Congressman Borski as we look at how best to construct legislation that will answer the needs of the American people, protect their health, protect their communities, and allow this Administration to build on its incredibly successful-and I appreciate your recognition of our successful record in reforming, through administrative changes, the day-to-day operation of the Superfund program. I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Mr. Borski, I want to thank your staffs for the work that we have been able to do together in the years past as we have looked at this program, as we have looked at how to manage this program better. I also, Mr. Chairman, want to say to you that the President's, the Vice President's efforts to cleanup and redevelop our cities-which I really, quite frankly, think is unparalleled and second-to-none. |