[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6004]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                              BROWNFIELDS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, this brownfields legislation is important. 
It provides three important steps to directly spur cleanup and reuse of 
these abandoned and contaminated sites.
  No. 1, it provides critically needed money to assess and clean up 
abandoned and underutilized sites which will create jobs and increase 
tax revenues and preserve great parks and open space. It is estimated 
this legislation will bring tax revenues to local governments of up to 
$2.4 billion.
  No. 2, it encourages cleanup and redevelopment by providing legal 
protections for innocent parties, such as contiguous property owners, 
prospective purchasers, and innocent landowners.
  Under the present state of the law, these places are left abandoned 
because people are afraid if they purchase these properties or lease 
them, they will be subject to Superfund liability. This legislation 
negates all that.
  No. 3, it further provides for funding and enhancement of State 
cleanup programs and a balance between providing ``certainty'' for 
developers and others but still ensuring protection of public health.
  We reported this bill out of committee by a vote of 15-3. A couple of 
Senators had some problems. We worked literally day and night on a 
staff level to resolve those problems. For example, the Senator from 
Ohio had some suggestions. I told him at the committee that we would 
work with him, and we have. We have satisfied Senator Voinovich's 
problems with this legislation.
  We need to do this. The reason I am so frustrated is that yesterday 
we did nothing, and today we are going to stand around and be in 
morning business. There is no reason we cannot do this. We have agreed 
on this side to 2 hours of debate evenly divided. I do not know why in 
the world we cannot move forward with this legislation. It is extremely 
important.
  I believe President Bush is a good person, and I believe he means 
well and wants to do the right thing. He stated during the campaign 
that he supports brownfields legislation.
  His environmental record has been abysmal this first 100 days. Why 
doesn't he lend his prestigious efforts to this legislation that he 
says he supports?
  I cannot understand why we do not move forward with this legislation. 
This legislation is important. It is important to the State of Nevada. 
It is important to every State in the Union.
  As we all know, this issue has wide support from groups including 
environmentalists, the Mayors' Association, businesses, the real estate 
community. This bill is a meeting of minds from all sectors of American 
society and from both sides of the aisle.
  S. 350 is a model of how an evenly divided committee can work 
together. I urge the Republican leadership in the Senate to show this 
Senate can recognize good legislation when it sees it and prove to 
Americans a 50/50 Senate can be productive and we can enact good laws.
  I urge my friend, the junior Senator from Mississippi, the majority 
leader, to allow us to debate this bill and move forward on it. We will 
do it with a short agreement. We agreed to 2 hours.
  This bill will pass overwhelmingly. Work done by the Presiding 
Officer and the Senator from California has been exemplary, and the 
work the full committee did is excellent. I urge my colleagues to work 
toward moving this forward. Hard work has been done. The cooperation of 
the Republicans and Democrats on the committee was noticeable. It is a 
shame at this time we don't move forward with this legislation.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Dakota.

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