[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 2 (Monday, January 14, 2002)]
[Pages 52-54]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields 
Revitalization Act in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania

January 11, 2002

    Thank you very much for that warm welcome. It's great to be back 
here in Pennsylvania.
    I'm glad to be traveling with one of the most effective members of 
my Cabinet, the former Governor of New Jersey, now the Administrator of 
the EPA, Christie Todd Whitman. America is getting to know what people 
in this part of the world understand, that she is an able Administrator, 
a fine person, a person who cares deeply about the environment and our 
country. And she's going to go down as one of the best selections I have 
made in my Cabinet. So Christie Todd, thank you for coming, and thank 
you for your leadership.
    I want to thank you all for coming. When I saw the family over 
there, it reminded me that we have more responsibilities than just those 
on the war. And that is, we've got a responsibility of making sure every 
child is educated and that the environment in which our children grow up 
is healthy and clean.
    I'm here to sign this bill, and it's a very important piece of 
legislation. It's a great accomplishment. And I do so in Pennsylvania 
because your State has been on the forefront of brownfield legislation, 
thanks to now the--in part, to the Director of our homeland security 
effort, Governor Tom Ridge.
    I want to share with you, just right quick, my attitudes about how 
to keep the peace. And the reason I brought up the family is, is that 
it's so important for our fellow Americans to understand that our 
efforts overseas and our efforts at home are all aimed at making sure 
that little fellow can grow up in a peaceful world and in a world that 
understands freedom.
    We have learned that there are some on this globe that hate America 
and hate what America stands for. Those folks didn't understand our 
country. They thought, because we were prosperous and free, we would be 
soft and complacent. They made a grave mistake. Our war overseas and our 
war at home to stop terrorist activity is all aimed at making sure the 
youth of America can grow up in a free society. They will not stop us. 
They will not deter us. We will achieve our aims and bring the 
terrorists to justice no matter where they hide or where they exist.
    So we'll be focused overseas, and we'll be making sure we follow 
every single lead about whether or not they're going to try to hit us 
again. But we've also got a lot of work to do here at home. I made that 
clear the other day when I signed a really good piece of legislation, 
and that's the education reform bill. And I'm now making that statement 
again when I sign this sensible piece of legislation, one that 
emphasizes the need for environmental stewardship all across the 
country, and a piece of legislation that will enhance prosperity and the 
safety of Americans living in urban areas.
    This bill was passed because of the work of both Republicans and 
Democrats. It's an example of what can happen when people put 
partisanship aside and focus on what's best for America. It shows what 
can happen when people say, ``I'm proud of my political party, but I'm 
more proud of my country, and I'm in Washington, DC, to do what's right 
for America first, not my political party.''
    And so I want to thank Paul Gillmor, from the State of Ohio. Paul 
flew over today from his district outside of Toledo, in order to watch 
this bill being signed. And it's right that he's here, because he was 
the main sponsor in the House, who has worked hard to get this piece of 
legislation through. Paul, I want to thank you for coming. I look 
forward to giving you the pen, as I sign the bill. This should be one of 
the high marks of your leadership and your service to the country. So 
thank you for being here, sir.
    I want to thank two members of the Pennsylvania delegation for being 
here, Joe Hoeffel and Bob Borski. Thank you both for being here and 
taking time out of your day to come. It's good to see the old Governor 
here. I appreciate Mark coming today. I appreciate his leadership, and I 
know the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appreciate his 
willingness to step in when Ridge left, and he's doing a fine job. I 
want to thank the attorney general, Mike Fisher, for being here as well. 
Michael, thanks for

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coming, and thanks for your service to Pennsylvania.
    And then I want to thank Brian O'Neill. I knew the O'Neills were a 
big family, but I didn't realize--[laughter]--they were that big. But I 
thank Brian for being a risktaker; somebody who understands that in 
order to create jobs, you have to take risk; somebody who is an 
entrepreneur; somebody who has had the vision to take these eyesores and 
convert them into positive economic assets that benefit the community at 
large. And so, Brian, I'm proud of the work you do, no more so than the 
citizens of this community. You're leaving behind a legacy that is 
positive and strong. And I'm honored to be here at your place of 
business. Thank you, sir.
    I also want to thank some of the Senators that worked on this piece 
of legislation, none of whom could be here today. They're traveling 
around in different parts of the globe. One is Senator Lincoln Chafee 
from Rhode Island; he sponsored the bill. Kit Bond worked on it; Senator 
Bob Smith, Senator Harry Reid all worked hard to get this legislation 
out of the Senate and eventually onto my desk.
    All of us have a responsibility to be the stewards of our land. When 
we use the land, we must do so wisely and responsibly, balancing the 
needs of the environment with the best interests of those who live and 
work on the land.
    The law I sign today addresses the problem of land which has already 
been developed and then abandoned. American cities have many such 
eyesores; anywhere from 500,000 to a million brownfields are across our 
Nation. These areas once supported manufacturing and commerce, and now 
lie empty, adding nothing of value to the community and sometimes only 
causing problems.
    Many communities and entrepreneurs have sought to redevelop 
brownfields. Often they could not, either because of excessive 
regulation or because of the fear of endless litigation. As a 
consequence, small businesses and other employers have located 
elsewhere, pushing development farther and farther outward, taking jobs 
with them and leaving cities empty.
    For its part, the Federal Government sometimes spent more time 
haggling over regulatory details than it did working with States and 
cities to fix the problem. The old way of doing things was to mandate, 
regulate, and litigate. That began to change a few years ago as some 
States, such as Pennsylvania, and some communities and local businesses 
began to work together in a constructive relationship to find positive 
solutions to the brownfield problem. And the Federal Government began to 
help by pursuing a more cooperative approach with regulatory relief, 
with loans, and with technical support.
    Here at the Millennium Corporate Center, if people take time to find 
out what happened, you'll see the possibilities of what can happen when 
people work together. For a long time this site was the site of a steel 
foundry. After the foundry closed, the property sat in disrepair. 
Finally, with a grant from the EPA, Montgomery County began to work to 
turn things around. Then O'Neill came in with private investment, and he 
received cooperation at every level of government. This place is a good 
place to work. It is now a good place to live. And there are going to be 
more people employed here than before. This is an example of what can 
happen, of what is possible.
    And the bill I am about the sign will enable this success to be 
repeated many times over, all over America. It gives protection against 
lawsuits to prospective buyers and others who didn't create the 
brownfields but want to help clean them up and develop them. And it will 
help strengthen State cleanup programs, with more Federal funding and 
less Federal meddling. My budget for next year will meet this commitment 
by requesting that Congress double EPA's brownfields funding.
    The law will also make way for the creation of more jobs. As the 
employees here know, when a business develops a brownfield, it turns a 
stagnant plot of land into a productive neighborhood. What we ought to 
be asking in America is, what does it take to create more jobs? Sure, we 
want those who have been affected by 9/11 to be helped with an 
unemployment check, but what they really want is a permanent paycheck. 
In all public policy--public policy ought to figure out

[[Page 54]]

ways to make sure that the entrepreneurs can succeed, so that there is 
job creation taking place all over the country. This is a good jobs 
creation bill.
    Further benefit will come as businesses recycle older properties and 
spare surrounding lands from development. There has been a lot of talk 
about urban sprawl. Well, one of the best ways to arrest urban sprawl is 
to develop brownfields and make them productive pieces of land where 
people can find work and employment. By one estimate, for every acre of 
redeveloped brownfields, we save 4\1/2\ acres of open space.
    This legislation will also protect small-business owners from 
unwarranted Superfund liability. Lawyers and governments used to tell 
small-business owners that because they sent their trash to a landfill 
and because that landfill became contaminated, they were potentially 
liable for cleaning up the entire site. When Government acts in such a 
heavy-handed way, it hurts a lot of people; it works against its own 
purposes; it discourages small-business growth. With this bill, we are 
returning common sense to our cleanup program. We will protect innocent 
small-business owners and employees from unfair lawsuits and focus our 
efforts, instead, on actually cleaning up contaminated sites.
    Environmental protection and economic growth can go on together. It 
is possible for the two to exist, if we're wise about public policy. And 
the law that I'm about to sign is good public policy. It's got a lot of 
common sense in it. It's wise. It encourages growth. It fosters the 
environment. It is the best--it shows what can--it is the best of 
Washington, when people decide to cooperate, not bicker, when people put 
the national interests ahead of political interests.
    And so it's an honor to be here in Pennsylvania to sign the most 
important piece of environmental legislation that came out of the 
Congress last year, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields 
Revitalization Act.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 9:45 a.m. in the Millennium 3 building at 
the Millennium Corporate Center. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. 
Mark Schweiker of Pennsylvania and Brian O'Neill, chairman of the board, 
O'Neill Properties Group. H.R. 2869, approved January 11, was assigned 
Public Law No. 107-118.