[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 6 (Friday, January 10, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E46]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          REDUCING EXCESSIVE DEADLINE OBLIGATIONS ACT OF 2013

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                               speech of

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 10, 2014

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2279) to 
     amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act relating to review of 
     regulations under such Act and to amend the Comprehensive 
     Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 
     1980 relating to financial responsibility for classes of 
     facilities:

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2279, 
which would needlessly complicate efforts to clean up our most 
dangerous Superfund sites by letting polluters off the hook for cleanup 
costs and creating conflict and confusion between state and federal 
law.
  One in four Americans lives within three miles of a hazardous waste 
site, frequently in vulnerable communities. These sites endanger human 
health, increasing risk for cancer, birth defects, acute poisoning, and 
injury from fire or explosion. They are also blights in communities--
vacant lots and underutilized land that that impede economic 
development.
  Our nations' Superfund law, passed in 1980, gives the Environmental 
Protection Agency the authority to compel polluters to pay to repair 
the damage they caused, either by cleaning up themselves or by 
reimbursing the federal government for its cleanup efforts. The cleanup 
process requires assessing and ranking sites to prioritize the most 
hazardous areas, and working with states and private parties to 
remediate the land.
  Today's bill would undermine the requirement that high-polluting 
industries obtain insurance or post bonds to ensure that areas would be 
cleaned up if they become Superfund sites, reducing the incentive to 
limit contamination and sticking taxpayers with the bill if cleanup is 
necessary. It would prohibit the EPA from enforcing financial 
responsibility requirements in any state that sets its own rules, even 
if those rules are inadequate to protect taxpayers. It also confuses 
federal and state responsibilities on cleanup sites, subjecting federal 
employees to fines or imprisonment if they fail to comply with state 
orders even when they conflict with federal law. This confusion will 
only lead to increased litigation, delay, and wasted resources.
  Superfund sites are dangerous threats to public health and economic 
progress in our most vulnerable communities, and we should be working 
to make the cleanup process as seamless and efficient as possible. This 
legislation would hinder that effort, and I urge a no vote.

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