[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 120 (Tuesday, July 29, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S5053]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. Menendez, and Mrs. Boxer):
  S. 2679. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
reinstate the financing for the Hazardous Substance Superfund, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce with my 
colleagues Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Senator Barbara 
Boxer of California, the Superfund Polluter Pays Restoration Act of 
2014. This bill reinstates an expired excise tax on polluting 
industries to help fund the cleanup of Superfund sites and restore 
communities back to health.
  Across our Nation we have far too many un-remediated and dangerous 
Superfund sites sitting in our neighborhoods--properties that are 
literally poisoning our residents. This problem is particularly acute 
in my State of New Jersey, which is both the most densely populated 
State and the State with the most Superfund sites.
  Nationwide, there are more than 1300 Superfund sites on the National 
Priorities List, NPL, which require long-term cleanups. The sites 
listed on the NPL are the most heavily contaminated in the country and 
are the sites that pose the greatest potential risk to public health 
and the environment. In the past five years, 94 new sites have been 
added to the NPL, but an average of only 7 have been removed each year.
  Cleanup has not even begun at hundreds of these NPL sites. Officials 
at the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and the Government 
Accountability Office, GAO, state that the reason why cleanup is not 
starting at hundreds of sites, and taking so long at others, is because 
of the limited funding available for cleanup activities.
  There are more than 11 million Americans who live within one mile of 
a Superfund site, and of that, 3 to 4 million are children. Studies 
show that children are particularly susceptible to the health hazards 
presented by Superfund sites. Researchers have found increased autism 
rates, and recently researchers found that babies born to mothers 
living within 1 mile of a Superfund site prior to cleanup had a 20 
percent greater incidence of being born with birth defects.
  The need for more funding could not be clearer.
  When Congress created Superfund in 1980, it established the Superfund 
Trust Fund from which the EPA receives annual appropriations for 
Superfund cleanup activities. For 15 years, the Trust Fund received a 
steady source of revenue from excise taxes on crude oil and certain 
chemicals. Those taxes expired at the end of fiscal year 1995. The 
Superfund program is now operating at 40 percent of 1987 levels, which 
is unsustainable according to a 2010 GAO report which found that 
current funding levels would likely not be sufficient to meet the 
future needs of the Superfund program EPA officials estimate they will 
need 2 to 2.5 times more funding to effectively and efficiently cleanup 
unremediated sites.
  It is unfair for the taxpayer to shoulder the burden of cleanup costs 
for these Superfund sites. To meet the need for additional funding and 
to protect the health of our families and children, Senator Menendez, 
Senator Boxer, and I have come together to introduce this act, aimed at 
holding polluting industries accountable, reducing the need to spend 
taxpayer dollars, and providing a steady flow of funds to the Superfund 
program.
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