[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 17, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING THE CITY OF ARLINGTON, TENNESSEE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 17, 2009

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, it is an honor and privilege to rise 
today on behalf of the City of Arlington, Tennessee for being 
recognized by the EPA with its Excellence in Site Re-Use Award for 
turning one of the nation's most dangerous Superfund sites into a safe 
community park.
  When pesticide producer Arlington Blending and Packaging closed its 
doors for the final time in 1979 it left behind contaminants 
concentrated in the sites soil and ground water due to years of spills 
and leakage from facility operations. Years after the site closed the 
EPA conducted a thorough examination of the 2.3 acre site and listed it 
as one of the most dangerous Superfund sites in the country. This 
prompted the EPA to launch an extensive cleanup of the site to safely 
restore it to families residing in the adjourning Mary Alice 
neighborhood.
  With the EPA's cleanup completed, Arlington Mayor Russell Wiseman and 
Town Superintendent Ed Haley spearheaded an ambitious effort to 
purchase the former Superfund site and build a community park though 
the EPA's Return to Use initiative in conjunction with securing a 
community development block grant for the park's construction. The 
successful completion of the Mary Alice Park stands as a shining 
example of how relentless determination, community support and a 
unified vision can take something that was once thought to be broken 
and renew it with new life.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Arlington 
Mayor Russell Wiseman, Aldermen Glen Bascom II, Gerald McGee, Hugh 
Lamar, Oscar Brooks, Harry McKee, Brian Thompson, Town Superintendent 
Ed Haley, and residents of the Mary Alice Neighborhood for their 
proactive and conscientious approach to turning a once abandoned and 
contaminated industrial site into a community park that will be 
treasured by Arlington families for generations to come.

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