[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 140 (Friday, September 30, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  AMERICAN HERITAGE AREAS ACT OF 1994

                                 ______


                               speech of

                           HON. RICK SANTORUM

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 30, 1994

  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5044, the 
American Heritage Act. This legislation authorizes the establishment of 
the Steel Industry Heritage area which I strongly support.
  H.R. 5044 is the end result of a great deal of hard work in my 
district. For more than 5 years, the Steel Industry Heritage project 
has been working to create a heritage area throughout much of 
southwestern Pennsylvania to commemorate the contributions of the steel 
industry, and I have worked with them at every step in this process.
  The Monongahela River Valley was once the center of the world's steel 
production and the vast economic engine that powered the United States 
into the 20th century. The valley's history is also important because 
it was the early battleground of the labor movement in the United 
States, a struggle which exploded into violence more than 100 years ago 
in the town of Homestead, PA.
  The smoke and fire of the mills have largely left the Mon Valley, but 
the memory of the steel industry and the workers who fired the furnaces 
remains. In recognition of this pivotal time in our Nation's history, 
many people and communities along the Monongahela River have been 
striving to preserve the heritage of steel industry. I commend them for 
their commitment to this important effort.
  Nevertheless, Mr. Speaker, I have serious reservations about the 
impact of H.R. 5044 on the rights of private property owners in other 
heritage areas, and I am disappointed that my colleagues could not 
resolve their differences over this issue prior to today's 
consideration. I consider the right to own property to be among the 
most important rights conferred by our Constitution; and, if not for my 
work with the Steel Industry Heritage project and my pledge to support 
the hard work of many people to see that the legacy of the steel 
industry is preserved in the Mon Valley, it is likely that I would have 
opposed H.R. 5044.
  Therefore, I strongly urge the sponsors of H.R. 5044 to take great 
pains to see that private property rights are protected before this 
measure is brought back from conference.

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