[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 126 (Tuesday, August 1, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND 
             INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1996

                                 ______


                               speech of

                         HON. ROBERT A. BORSKI

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 27, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration of the bill (H.R. 2099) 
     making appropriations for the Departments of Veterans Affairs 
     and Housing and Urban Development, and for sundry independent 
     agencies, boards, commissions, corporations, and offices for 
     the fiscal year ending September 30, 1996, and for other 
     purposes.

  Mr. BORSKI. Mr. Chairman, I wish to express my support for the 
important amendment by the gentleman from Michigan to restore the 
needed funding for the cleanup of the Nation's hazardous waste sites.
  The Dingell amendment is absolutely essential for our Nation's 
environment.
  The funding level in this bill is totally inadequate for a program 
that will protect the health and environment of the American people.
  In the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee we have had six 
hearings on Superfund where I have attempted to question virtually 
every witness about how the program should be funded.
  Reducing cleanups is not an acceptable answer.
  Without exception, there has been no witnesses who has given a 
credible answer on replacing the revenue that would be lost if we 
repeal retroactive liability, which some in Congress want to do.
  We now have a $3 billion annual program with half the funds 
appropriated and half recovered through liability procedures.
  This bill proposes a drastic reduction in the appropriated funds for 
cleanup. If we add in the repeal of Retroactive Liability, the 
Hazardous Waste Cleanup Program in this country will grind to a halt.
  I do not believe it is acceptable to the American people to halt the 
cleanup of hazardous waste from their communities.
  If our goal is a Superfund Program that will show real progress in 
cleaning up hazardous waste sites, we must pass the Dingell amendment.
  The funding level in the bill is a cut of $416 million from last 
year's level.
  This budget level put a halt to the start of 120 construction 
projects.
  Superfund projects would not be allowed to move to the next phase, 
meaning that those communities that are waiting for construction to 
begin are simply out of luck.
  This funding level tells the people of America who are threatened by 
Superfund sites to live with it.
  This cut will affect cleanups in more than 40 States--a truly 
national reduction in environmental protection.
  It means that more Superfund trust fund money, taxes which are being 
paid by the American people and by American businesses, will remain in 
the trust fund.
  The money in the trust fund should be used for the purpose for which 
it was intended--cleanups.
  With one in four Americans living within 4 miles of a Superfund 
national priorities list site, this funding cut will have a severe 
impact on millions of people.
  Besides the environmental impacts, these cuts will result in 3,500 
lost contractor jobs and further delays in returning Superfund sites in 
urban areas to productive economic use.
  In Pennsylvania, cleanup construction is set to begin at the site of 
a former scrap wire recovery site. The ground water, sediments, surface 
water, and soil are contaminated with the volatile organic compounds 
and heavy metals, including lead.
  The cleanup at this site will help protect the 52,000 people who live 
nearby.
  Construction cleanup would begin at this site in the coming months if 
we provide adequate funds for the Superfund Program.
   H.R. 2099 does not provide the needed funds.
  It would leave the people who live near this site and many others 
like it waiting for many more months and years for cleanup to begin.
  The Dingell amendment would provide the funds for these cleanups to 
move forward.
  I urge passage of the amendment.
  

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