In summary, we believe H.R. 1300 would not improve the federal Superfund program. To the contrary, the bill would increase litigation, slow down cleanups, and disrupt the progress we have made through administrative reforms. We would be pleased to discuss our concerns further. The Office of Management and Budget has advised that there is no objection to the submission of this letter from the standpoint of the Administration's program.

cc: Honorable Robert A. Borski

Ranking Minority Member

Sincerely,

Jon P. Jenis

Jon P. Jennings

Acting Assistant Attorney General

Mr. BORSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. BOEHLERT. And I have a letter from the Mayors all over our country. Without objection, I'll include that in the record at this point indicating their strong support.

Mr. Sherwood, you have one additional comment, can you make it brief?

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Mr. SHERWOOD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll be brief. Administrator Browner, I would love to have a conversation with you some time about what I perceive is a change of EPA policy on the combined sewer overflow problem in Lackawanna County. And not today, but we need to do that.

Ms. BROWNER. OK, we will set up a time.

Mr. SHERWOOD. We'll be in touch.

Ms. BROWNER. Yes.

Mr. SHERWOOD. Thank you.

Mr. BOEHLERT. Let me conclude in a very positive note. One, by thanking you, by thanking your time, Tim and Diane and Kevin and Cliff and Seth and all the usual suspects who join you when you come up here before us. We have profited greatly from your testimony. I think it's fair to say that we have general agreement, subject to the nuances and clarification thereof. Thank you very much, Madam Administrator.

Ms. BROWNER. With all due respect

Mr. BOEHLERT. Subject to the nuances. Now I did give you that lead.

Ms. BROWNER. There are nuances

Mr. BOEHLERT. And there are nuances.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Differences.

Ms. BROWNER. —and there are differences. Thank you, Mr. Oberstar.

Mr. BOEHLERT. Well, yes, but you just indicated in response to I mean in all fairness, you just indicated in response to Mr. Borski that we would accept the bill that dealt with and he just outlined in general form.

Ms. BROWNER. Your bill goes far beyond that.

Mr. BOEHLERT. Well, a whole bunch of things without looking at the nuances of what he is proposing specifically. So I'm determined, and we are determined to move forward. It is the intention of the committee, subject to consultation, obviously, at all times with the Minority, before the August recess, to go forward with the markup. And I think we've waited too long. We've consulted continuously. We will maintain that open dialogue with you and others in the Administration; and we will welcome any clarification that you can show us where this bill has unintended consequences. We would welcome that. We would welcome any observations you might share with us on nuances that concern you. But first and foremost, we are determined to go forward with something that first and foremost protects human health and the environment, gets on with cleaning up our toxic waste sites, recognizes the good work the EPA has done, codifies some of your very productive and positive administrative changes, and addresses in a realistic, fair manner some of your legitimate concerns. And this is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. You know it and I know it. But we're not going to wait until hell freezes over to do something.

MS. BROWNER. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to an invitation from you to sit down and work through our differences. It has not yet happened. No, they're not small. They are not small. More lawsuits, large responsible parties exempted, uncontaminated ground water not protected. Those are not small.

Mr. BOEHLERT. Let me say those are not views that this Chair shares and that a number of people on both sides of this aisle share, and we will not accept that characterization of this bill. There are some improvements that are warranted. We will have open dialogue with you on a continuing basis, but we are proud of the product we have produced. We want to make it better, and we look forward to your input to help us make it better. Thank you very much.

MS. BROWNER. We are available whenever. Thank you.

Mr. BOEHLERT. First of all, without objection, all members may submit opening statements for the record.

Now on to this next panel from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. We have the Honorable Michael Turner, Mayor of Dayton, Ohio; the Honorable Jim Marshall, Mayor of Macon, Georgia; and we expect shortly to have Mayor Turner and Mayor Marshall joined by Mayor Marc Morial of New Orleans.

Gentlemen, we appreciate the outstanding support that you have given to the bill in question. We value your input. We welcome the dialogue that we've had over these past years, not just months, and we look forward to your testimony.

I will ask Mayor Turner to start first. And thank you very much, Madam Administrator. I will ask Mayor Turner to start first and then Mayor Marshall. And I would assume that by the time Mayor Marshall finishes, Mayor Morial will be here.

Mayor Turner, you're up. Thank you very much.

TESTIMONY OF HON. MICHAEL TURNER, MAYOR, DAYTON, OHIO; HON. JIM MARSHALL, MAYOR, MACON, GEORGIA, AND HON. MARC MORIAL, MAYOR, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Mayor TURNER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. We are pleased to provide you the U.S. Conference of Mayors report on Recycling America's Land, which really gives a picture of the need for relief for American cities for what has been discussed in part as some of the unintended consequences of the Superfund legislation and its creation of brownfields, the resulting urban sprawl, and the loss of our farmlands.

It has been very educational to listen to the discussion that preceded us because I think that some of the distinctions that need to be made that relate to cities were part of that discussion. Certainly cities and Mayors throughout the country are advocates for human health and our environment. We were some of the areas that were first impacted by unregulated pollution and its impact upon our populations. Obviously, this is an issue that can be made very emotional by referring to issues of the impacts of human health and the environment.

However, the unintended consequences while we have advanced our efforts to cleanup the environment has been the abandonment of industrial sites throughout our cities. These abandoned industrial sites today represent the picture of our suburbs tomorrow and the picture of rural America that is yet to come. If the laws are not changed, the decisions that are being made by people who are looking to construct industrial factories in our suburbs or rural America will apply to even the sites that are being operated today and not just ones that are abandoned.