[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 17, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3496]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         POLLUTERS, NOT TAXPAYERS, SHOULD BEAR COST OF CLEANUP

  (Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO. Mr. Speaker, as we approach the celebration of 
Earth Day it behooves us to take the time to see what we have done to 
our planet. The Superfund Program helps us accomplish what we must, 
clean all polluted sites. Superfund is based on the principle that the 
parties responsible for the pollution should pay for the cleanups.
  Unfortunately, some Members want to shift cleanup costs from 
polluters to taxpayers. Whose interest does it serve to shift this 
burden off the polluters and onto the backs of the public?
  A high percent of the Superfund sites currently listed on the 
national priorities list involve human exposure to hazardous substances 
or threats to drinking water. Over 70 million people live within 4 
miles of one Superfund site. In my district, more than 168,000 people 
get their drinking water from aquifers over which a site is located.
  H.R. 2500, the Superfund reform bill, rejects the polluter-pays 
principle and undercuts responsible remedies, allowing polluters to 
walk away from sites. H.R. 2500 caps the national priorities list at 
125 sites, while States have testified that there are 1,700 Federal 
caliber sites. Under this plan, responsibility for 1,575 sites would be 
left to the States, whether they have resources to clean them or not.
  Although the program has been criticized for the slow rate of 
cleanups, 349 site cleanups have completed since the program started in 
1981. Nearly 60 percent of these cleanup have been completed under the 
Clinton administration.
  Under the last Democratic Congress, a compromise Superfund reform 
bill received the support of three committees and was supported by the 
Clinton administration, State governments, and environmental groups. 
The compromise dealt with reducing litigation, speeding cleanups, and 
narrowing liability.
  As we celebrate Earth Day we should not allow lobbyists to rewrite 
out environmental laws in ways that benefit polluters and hurt the 
health of our good citizens. Let me pledge to seek new opportunities so 
that we can be proud to pass along a safer and healthier planet to our 
children.

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