[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 95 (Monday, June 15, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E894]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             INTRODUCTION OF THE SUPERFUND REINVESTMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 15, 2015

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, today, joined by 16 original cosponsors, 
I am pleased to introduce legislation to reauthorize the Superfund 
taxes on polluting industries. The Superfund Reinvestment Act will 
provide much needed funding to clean up toxic waste sites throughout 
the United States and relieve the financial burden currently shouldered 
by the American taxpayers who currently pay for this cleanup.
  Across the country there are more than 1,100 severely polluted 
Superfund sites. Approximately 49 million Americans live within three 
miles of a Superfund site. These contaminated sites threaten humans 
with exposure to toxins such as arsenic, benzene, PCBs, mercury and a 
wide range of solvents, resulting in health problems such as 
infertility, low birth weight, birth defects, leukemia and respiratory 
difficulties. This contamination also threatens the economic and social 
vitality of the communities that play host to these dirty sites.
  The Superfund program was originally created in 1980 to cleanup these 
contaminated sites and free residents of the health risks and fears 
that come from living close to toxic waste. In most cases, the EPA 
works with responsible parties to compel them to pay for cleanup. At 
approximately 30 percent of Superfund sites, however, those responsible 
for the pollution cannot be found or do not have the ability to pay, so 
the federal government pays for the cleanup. Historically, the 
Superfund Trust Fund, financed by taxes on petroleum products, 
chemicals and corporate income, was used for this purpose. Because 
Congress has not reauthorized the Superfund taxes since 1995, the Trust 
Fund has been depleted and the funding for the cleanup of orphan sites 
has shifted primarily to general funds.
  The Superfund Reinvestment Act restores the ``polluter pays'' taxes 
and updates these taxes for inflation, returning fairness to the 
process and once again making those responsible for pollution pay for 
the cleanup. The bill includes excise taxes of $.163 per barrel on 
crude oil or refined oil products and taxes ranging from $.51 to $11.35 
per ton on certain chemicals. The bill reinstates a corporate 
environmental income tax of .12% on a corporation's modified 
alternative minimum taxable income that exceeds $3.735 million. This 
legislation expands the definition of oil to include unconventional 
crude oil sources, such as tar sands and oil shale. This legislation 
also includes language to guarantee that money from the Trust Fund is 
only spent on Superfund cleanups.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in working to strengthen the 
Superfund program by ensuring that polluters continue to pay. Restoring 
the Superfund taxes will go a long way towards making certain that 
funds are available to cleanup America's most toxic waste sites and to 
help keep our communities and our families safe, healthy and 
economically secure.

                          ____________________