[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 154 (Thursday, November 4, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13921-S13922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 OMBUDSMAN REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1999

  Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, in the Summer of 1998, I met with a group 
of concerned citizens from the Overland Park neighborhood, which is 
located in southwest Denver. The dozen or so residents had requested a 
meeting with me to discuss an issue that had taken up more than six 
years of their lives and had driven them to distrust anything the 
Environmental Protection Agency had told them about a Superfund site 
located in their neighborhood called Shattuck.
  The story surrounding the Shattuck Superfund site and what the EPA 
did to this community will have a lasting impact not only on the 
residents of the

[[Page S13922]]

Overland Park neighborhood, but on each and everyone of us who look for 
the EPA to be the guardian of our nation's environmental health and 
safety.
  For those who have not followed the Shattuck case, these are the 
facts that have been uncovered thus far. In 1991, the local Region 8 
EPA office and the Colorado Department of Health began to look at 
possible remedies for the cleanup of the old S.W. Shattuck Chemical 
Company located on South Bannock Street in Denver. Initially, it was 
determined that the safest and most effective cleanup was removal of 
the radioactive waste to a registered storage facility in Utah. But 
following a secret meeting between Shattuck's attorneys, EPA and the 
Colorado Department of Health the decision was made to store the waste 
on-site. Residents in the area were never told that the remedy chosen 
by the EPA had never been used before anywhere in the United States, 
and more importantly documents calling into question the reliability of 
the remedy were kept from the public. In 1993, the EPA signed the 
Record of Decision (ROD) and the radioactive waste at the Shattuck 
Superfund site was entombed on-site.
  Over the next five years the citizens of Overland Park fought to get 
their neighborhood back. They petitioned the EPA for a review of the 
decision and were denied. They attempted to submit new information 
about the safety of the remedy selected and were told by the EPA the 
remedy was safe. Finally, last summer the residents concerns were 
brought to my attention. After meeting with area residents and business 
owners, I determined their questions deserved answers and together we 
began a journey to find the truth about Shattuck.
  Last October, I asked the EPA to meet with the community to answer 
their questions and was informed they would not conduct such a public 
meeting. Outraged by their answer, I exercised my right as a U.S. 
Senator to hold up Senate confirmation of a key EPA official. The move 
resulted in the EPA agreeing to my request for an independent 
investigation of Shattuck by the National Ombudsman. Earlier this year 
he began his investigation and quickly determined the claims made by 
residents were not only meritorious, but that EPA officials had engaged 
in an effort to keep documents hidden from the public.
  In fact, the Ombudsman was so successful at uncovering the facts 
surrounding Shattuck, his investigation has resulted in EPA officials 
now looking at eliminating his office. A meeting was recently held 
among all ten EPA regional administrators and staff from EPA 
Administrator Carol Browner's office to discuss eliminating the 
Ombudsman position. This can not be allowed to happen! Nor will I allow 
it to happen. Without the Ombudsman's investigation on Shattuck the 
residents of Overland Park would have never learned the truth. The 
Ombudsman's investigation brought integrity back into the process.
  The EPA's efforts to curtail the Ombudsman's independence is an 
attempt to seek revenge for the on-going Shattuck investigation and to 
intimidate citizens who dare question the answers they are given by the 
EPA. I have recently introduced Senate Bill 1763, the ``Ombudsman 
Reauthorization Act of 1999,'' which will preserve the office of the 
National Ombudsman. The battle to enact this legislation could be 
tougher than getting the EPA to admit they made a mistake at Shattuck.

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