[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 151 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12909-S12910]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CONGRESS AGAIN FAILS TO CLEAN UP BROWNFIELDS

 Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I very much regret that once 
again--for the 3rd Congress, that's six years--the Congress has refused 
to take action on brownfields legislation because of unrelated and very 
controversial issues related to the Superfund program.
  As I have for three Congresses, on the very first day of the 105th 
Congress, along with ten other Senators, I introduced S. 18, a bill to 
encourage brownfields revitalization efforts. Brownfields are 
abandoned, or idle, former industrial properties which may or may not 
be contaminated. Brownfields exist in cities, suburbs and rural areas. 
Their reuse can result in badly needed jobs and significant revenues 
along with environmental cleanup of hundreds of thousands of 
communities across the country. One section of S. 18 established an 
exemption from potential Superfund liability for developers who clean 
up brownfields but had nothing to do with any contamination that might 
be present. These provisions merely clarified that Congress did not 
intend the specter of Superfund liability to deter the purchase and 
redevelopment of brownfields properties. This simple clarification has 
long enjoyed broad-based, bipartisan support.
  Mr. President, on November 7, 1997, I also introduced S. 1497. This 
bill is in some ways analogous to the brownfields bill, in that it 
provides an exemption from Superfund liability for homeowners, small 
businesses, and non-profit organizations which sent only municipal 
solid waste to Superfund sites.
  Mr. President, S. 1497 was, so to speak, dedicated to Barbara 
Williams, and all those like her, who got caught up unfairly in a 
litigation web that the Congress never intended when Superfund was 
written. Barbara Williams is the owner of Sunny Ray Restaurant. Ms. 
Williams was sued and asked to pay for cleanup of a Superfund site, 
though she only disposed of mashed potatoes and other restaurant waste 
at that site. She has testified before the Environment and Public Works 
Committee twice.
  Mr. President, I find it appalling that this woman was stuck in a 
Superfund lawsuit, brought by industries that had polluted the site but 
did not want to pay to clean up their mess. S. 1497 included a 
provision clarifying that Congress did not intend parties such as 
homeowners, pizza parlor owners, or girl scouts--that disposed only of 
household, or household-like trash--to be subject to suit under 
Superfund. Like brownfields liability exemptions, these exemptions for 
innocent parties enjoy broad, longstanding, bipartisan support.
  Mr. President, this is the third consecutive Congress we have 
negotiated comprehensive Superfund reform, but failed to pass 
legislation. In the 103rd Congress, the Committee marked up a 
comprehensive Superfund reform bill that boasted unusually broad-based 
support, and reported it out on an 13:4 vote. But for reasons which had 
little to do with Superfund, for reasons that were blatantly political, 
the bill was not enacted into law. In the 104th Congress, consensus 
evaporated, and the Republican Majority introduced comprehensive reform 
bills that can only be described as extreme. In the 105th Congress, the 
parties got closer, yet, despite the hundreds of hours of work by our 
staffs, did not get close enough. I personally spent weeks negotiating 
painstaking details of this complex statute. But unfortunately, rather 
than resolve remaining differences, the Committee elected to proceed to 
a partisan mark-up. Indeed, it reported its Superfund bill, S. 8, 
almost entirely along party lines, with the vote on final passage at 
11:7.
  Mr. President, the Committee may or may not take up comprehensive 
reform again in the 106th Congress. Given GAO's August, 1998 report 
finding that EPA has already selected remedies at 95% of non-federal 
Superfund sites, I question whether this effort is at all worthwhile. 
But the battle lines are beginning to be drawn. It is reported that 
some are urging industry to spend as much as did the tobacco industry--
some $40 million--to have their way.
  But while my Republican colleagues persist in an all or nothing 
strategy, I urge that this body be cognizant of the price exacted by 
this approach. This posture essentially takes our nation's cities and 
small businesses as hostages in a war over Superfund. And the 
consequences are very real.
  The nation's Mayors estimate they lose between $200 and $500 million 
a year in tax revenues from brownfields sitting idle, and that 
returning these sites to productive use could create some 236,000 new 
jobs. They, as well as developers and bankers, say immediate action is 
imperative, since new tax laws provide incentives for brownfields 
redevelopment, but expire in 2001. In short, the window is narrow 
during which brownfields reform will make any difference at all. Each 
day Congress fails to act on brownfields liability, it deprives our 
cities of unique redevelopment opportunities.
  And as for municipal solid waste, as Mrs. Williams testified, neither 
her lawyer's fees nor her settlement costs are covered by insurance, 
nor are they business expenses she can deduct. She must make enough 
money to pay these penalties on top of her other bills and her payroll. 
Each day Congress fails to

[[Page S12910]]

free Barbara Williams and requires that she pay still more lawyers' 
fees, Congress adds to her burden, or as she testified, expands the 
``cloud'' cast over her head.
  Mr. President, I submit that holding these non-controversial, 
practical and entirely beneficial bills hostage to an ideological fight 
over the Superfund program is not in the public interest. I am very 
disappointed that for the sixth year in a row, we withheld action on 
legislation that could provide enormous benefits to the public. This is 
what gives government a bad name. 

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