[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 16, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H4349]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SMALL BUSINESS SUPERFUND FAIRNESS ACT OF 1999

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, the Superfund law was created in 1980 to 
clean up hazardous waste sites and hold polluters responsible. 
Unfortunately, small businesses have suffered the most as a result.
  Last February, hundreds of innocent small businesses in Quincy, 
Illinois, received a notice from the U.S. EPA that they were required 
to pay $3 million to clean up waste they had legally dumped in a 
landfill for years.
  In a process close to extortion, the $3 million payoff is to 
safeguard small businesses against suits by the major polluters. Saving 
small businesses by breaking them makes no sense to me.
  I am introducing the Small Business Superfund Fairness Act of 1999 to 
ensure that a situation like we had in Quincy will not repeat itself in 
other communities across this country.

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