COMMERCE COMMITTEE DEMOCRATS
Congressman John D. Dingell, Ranking Member
Congressman Ron Wyden, Member


Statement of
Congressman John D. Dingell and Congressman Ron Wyden

November 9, 1995

Last year, we started down the road of responsible reform of the Superfund program with a bill reported by our Committee by a vote of 44-0. Our goals were simple: we wanted cleanups to be faster and cheaper. Industry, small business, local and state governments, the environmental community and the Administration all supported that legislation. Sadly, the initial Republican proposal to reform Superfund departs dramatically from the consensus achieved last year. Under it, cleanups are highly unlikely to be faster or cheaper -- if they occur at all.

The proposal opens new opportunities for litigation at the expense of cleanups. It will require EPA to reopen and redecide cleanup decisions that have been finalized at more than 700 sites, and then allow those decisions to be challenged in court. All new cleanup decisions could be litigated in District Courts before they would be implemented, creating tremendous delays in cleaning up toxic waste sites.

While cleanups at more than 80 sites where construction is ready to begin remain unfunded, this proposal contains numerous costly special relief provisions for polluters. The total cost of these special relief provisions cannot be squared with the goal of expediting cleanups, with historic funding levels for the program, nor with the fiscal year 1996 appropriation of $1 billion.

More than half of all Americans rely on groundwater for their drinking water supply. But where there is groundwater contamination, this proposal would attempt to solve problems by forcing people to buy bottled water or install water treatment equipment at the tap, rather than cleaning the contaminated water or the source of contamination. These current and future drinking water supplies are essential to public health, economic growth and the development of our communities.

Last year, we recognized applicable state cleanup standards designed to address geological and other special conditions specific to the states. This year, those standards are preempted. This proposal also terminates federal responsibility for cleanup of toxic waste sites, and dumps the sites onto state taxpayers, without funding.

This proposal undermines the current authority of federal, state and tribal trustees to restore damaged natural resources. The proposal prefers allowing mother nature to take its course with damaged river systems, estuaries and fisheries. It may be centuries, if ever, before these valuable resources are restored for public use.

Superfund is a deeply flawed program, but the proposal announced today is itself seriously flawed. Democratic Members of the Committee are willing and eager to work with Chairman Oxley to correct the legislation's fundamental shortcomings.


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