[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 109 (Thursday, June 27, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E860]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SUPPORT OF AMENDMENT NO. 35 TO H.R. 3055

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                           HON. JOE COURTNEY

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 27, 2019

  Mr. COURTNEY. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of my amendment 
numbered 35 to Division A of H.R. 3055 to direct the National 
Institutes of Standards and Technologies to establish standards for 
pyrrhotite in concrete aggregate. Pyrrhotite is a mineral that 
unfortunately has been mixed into concrete aggregate and is widespread 
in concrete foundations and residential commercial municipal buildings 
in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and parts of Quebec, Canada, that 
after exposure to moisture, causes the material to premature crumbling 
and collapse because of rusting.
  Estimates are as high as thousands of structures in the New England 
region are affected with crumbling foundations, causing catastrophic 
losses to homeowners and municipalities. By establishing standards for 
pyrrhotite content, NIST could mitigate the problem from occurring in 
other areas, or at least reduce the costs of mitigation.
  Right now, any level of pyrrhotite is considered a cancer on a 
property and makes it unmarketable. This amendment would allocate $4 
million from the NIST general operations funds towards pyrrhotite 
research, which my office and others have been discussing over the last 
year. The amendment would require NIST to research the best testing 
methods for pyrrhotite detection, as well as to develop a pyrrhotite 
risk rating scale. This amendment would utilize the world's leading 
researchers to mitigate the cost of this problem. In addition, my 
amendment requests that NIST work with leading academic institutions in 
this area to expedite this research process--including expediting the 
procurement process for obtaining concrete samples, should NIST need to 
utilize core samples containing pyrrhotite to conduct this research.
  I urge adoption of this en-bloc package, and I want to thank Mr. 
Aderholt and Mr. Serrano for their kind support for this measure.

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