[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 23614-23615]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         OPEN THE HART BUILDING

  Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise this morning on behalf of the 
residents of the Hart Building who have been dispossessed as a 
consequence of the anthrax incident. I am going to refer to a 
memorandum of November 27 to all Senators relating to the cleanup of 
the Senate buildings. The statement goes into some detail relative to 
procedure. It is from the Senate Sergeant at Arms and it outlines the 
activity that the various agencies--the Centers for Disease Control, 
Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and the FBI--are 
involved in in this process. It indicates the Environmental Protection 
Agency is the lead agency on the remediation--the cleanup--of the 
building.
  It further states that in addition to the extensive environmental 
sampling, the team has--

       . . . finished remediation of common areas in the Hart 
     Building, including the atrium, walkways and the elevator in 
     the Southwest quadrant.

  That is the good news.

       Post-remediation sampling results for those common areas 
     are expected later this week.

  That would have already passed.

       Remediation of areas in the Hart Building which tested 
     positive for trace amounts of anthrax is underway. EPA is in 
     the process of detailing planning for the remediation of 
     affected offices, including those of Senators Feingold, 
     Baucus, Boxer, Corzine, Craig, Feinstein, Graham, Lieberman, 
     Lugar, Mikulski and Specter. EPA, the Sergeant at Arms, and 
     the Secretary of the Senate staff will be discussing these 
     plans with senior staff for the affected offices this week.

  My understanding is those offices are in one core and Senator 
Daschle's office is the office where most of the spores were found.
  They indicate that:

       Senator Daschle's suite is being prepared for the 
     application of chlorine dioxide gas.

  I gather that may be going on sometime this weekend. But:

       According to the EPA's plan, the cleanup of the Daschle 
     suite would take place this weekend. The Dirksen Building and 
     the Hart-Dirksen garage will be closed. . . .

  That is evidently underway today.
  I also note in here that:

       Following the discovery of an anthrax letter addressed to 
     Senator Leahy, environmental sampling of mail handling areas 
     in both the Russell and Dirksen Senate Office Buildings was 
     conducted on November 17th and 18th. The results of those 
     tests were negative except for trace positive results in the 
     mail handling areas of the offices of Senators Dodd and 
     Kennedy. Those areas were cleaned up on November 24th and 
     November 25th. . . .

  So clearly they have satisfied themselves as to the adequacy of the 
cleanup of at least two offices, those of Senator Dodd and Senator 
Kennedy. They have indicated they will reopen for business November 26, 
which is the case.

       The Dirksen mailroom has been remediated, but is not yet 
     open for business. . . . Sampling of the off-site mail 
     facility is . . . complete--

  And so forth.
  There is Medical information.
  Mail: It suggested mail deliveries will start this week and we will 
have 5 to 6 weeks of back mail.
  The interesting thing is it doesn't say a thing about when we are 
likely to get back in the Hart Building. It is my understanding the 
stacks within the Hart Building are separated and the area of greatest 
concern is still Senator Daschle's office. In discussing this with some 
people involved at a level that clearly they have access, a suggestion 
has been made that, since Senator Daschle's office is the area of 
concern now, they simply seal that off.
  Then the conversation went into, how do you seal it off if you have 
the air ducts and air vents? Those can be blocked as well.
  It is very inconvenient for those of us who are in the far stack, 
furthest away from the area of the incident. We have been advised that 
our offices are clean, but we can't go in. Yet they say the common 
areas now are clean.
  In a meeting with EPA, I asked them if this was really something 
under consideration for a Superfund site. They looked at me rather 
startled, as if they hadn't thought about that, but it may be.
  We have to have someone speak with authority. Frankly, the leadership 
here

[[Page 23615]]

is not as inconvenienced as those of us who are not in the leadership 
because they have offices here in the Capitol. But speaking for those 
of us who have been dispossessed for 5, going on 6 weeks, and every 
indication is another week or another 2 weeks, we do not seem to be 
able to get a conclusive decision on when we can get in, when they are 
going to be satisfied it is through--and somebody is going to have to 
sign off on this.
  It seems to me they could simply seal off the office now that is 
demanding their attention, seal off that air-conditioning or cut that 
off mechanically--you can do it--and let us get into our offices so we 
can function. It is extraordinarily inconvenient. You can imagine 
walking out of your office and just having to leave everything there.
  But the worst part of it is we had been in that building 3 full days, 
operating, after the envelope was opened in Senator Daschle's office.
  So I urge those responsible to get together and, for Heavens' sakes, 
find a way to get us back into the rest of the building. If you have to 
seal Senator Tom Daschle's office, then go ahead and do it and get it 
completed.
  I yield the floor to my good friend from Kansas. He and I are going 
to be with you for a while.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Senator Brownback from Kansas is recognized.

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