[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 13, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        HELPING SMALL BUSINESS CLEANERS ADOPT SAFER TECHNOLOGIES

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                        HON. DONALD A. MANZULLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 13, 2001

  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to introduce--with my 
colleagues Dave Camp of Michigan and David Price of North Carolina--a 
bipartisan legislative approach to pollution prevention for an industry 
that is struggling to maintain its prosperity in the face of very 
limited options for environmentally friendly, but costly, cleaning 
technology.
  The legislation we introduced today, The Small Business Pollution 
Prevention Opportunity Act of 2001, offers a positive alternative for 
owners of cleaning establishments, workers handling potentially 
hazardous solvents, as well as dry cleaning consumers. Our public 
health, the business community and our environment are the eventual 
winners.
  To expedite the adoption of available and viable pollution prevention 
technologies by new and existing cleaners, we are proposing tax 
incentives. New and safer cleaning solvents, including but not limited 
to liquid carbon dioxide, water-based wet cleaning and even ozone, are 
available to the dry- and wet-cleaners. However, without a tax credit, 
these newer technologies are out of the financial reach for the tens of 
thousands of cleaning establishments across the country.
  Last Congress, I worked diligently trying to enact similar 
legislation, and I held a hearing on July 20, 2000 in the House Small 
Business Committee to explore tax incentives to help small business 
cleaners adopt safer technologies. After the hearing, I cosponsored the 
legislation, then offered by Representative Dave Camp. This year, as 
Chairman of the Small Business Committee, I was asked to take the lead 
on this important legislation. I am pleased that in addition to 
Representatives Camp and Price, many other representatives, including 
Rob Andrews, Tammy Baldwin, Richard Burr, Ron Paul, Mark Udall, John 
Shimkus, Diana DeGette, and Jerry Weller have joined us in supporting 
this important bill, that would provide cleaners with a 40-percent tax 
credit against the cost of pollution prevention cleaning equipment in 
empowerment zones, enterprise communities, or renewal communities and a 
20-percent credit elsewhere.
  The 35,000 dry and wet cleaners in this nation are one of the largest 
independent small business segments in this country. Almost everyone 
relies on their services from one time or another, and these businesses 
are centrally located in our communities. Many of us, including myself, 
did not realize the hazardous and flammable nature of the solvents used 
to clean our garments. These chemicals can pollute our air and 
groundwater and, when this happens, it is costs millions of dollars to 
remediate the contaminated sites left behind. In fact, because of the 
liability attached to the expensive clean-up costs, many banks across 
the country are reluctant to make loans to cleaning businesses or 
unrelated businesses located nearby or in the same shopping center.
  Many of us have read about or seen contaminated sites that have 
affected the drinking water of unwary citizens and cost the government 
hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean it up. The U.S. Marines 
announced last November one of the worst cases of contaminated water 
supplies ever--caused potentially by a dry cleaner using 
percholoethylene (PERC)--that caused unknown diseases to afflict 
Marines and their families for over two decades. The television station 
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that broke this sad story did a follow-up 
investigative report on the dry cleaning industry in Wisconsin and 
reported cause for concern. While the Camp Lejeune situation is reason 
enough for concern, we in the Congress need to help the military adopt 
environmentally-friendly cleaning processes and to help commercially 
available safe systems become more affordable and more accepted.
  The small business cleaners in this nation are seeking a path to 
continue performing a valuable service, making a reasonable profit, and 
maintaining the public health and safety. Those cleaners who want to 
switch to safer cleaning systems face financial hurdles and need our 
help. Their availability of financing for new equipment is limited and 
their cash flow is not sufficient to spend unwisely. That is why this 
tax credit is needed and must be enacted.
  I encourage my colleagues to join us in this win-win legislative 
effort where incentives are certain to change behavior faster and more 
efficiently than regulations, which seek to punish and shut down small 
businesses.

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