Date: 2008-09-17
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 6460 reauthorizes appropriations. at increased levels. for sediment remediation purposes in the Great Lakes areas of concern. The presence of these contaminated sediments. a toxic legacy of the industrialized past for .the Great Lakes basin. have plagued its waters for decades. These sediments have contributed to over 90 percent of the nearshore waters of the lakes being unsafe for fishing. swimming and wildlife habitat. In 2002. the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. under the leadership of our current chairman. Congressman OBERSTAR. and Congressman VERN EHLERS. took action to begin the healing process for the Great Lakes community. In that year. the Great Lakes Legacy Act was signed into law. The 2002 Legacy Act was enacted to encourage greater cooperation and expedited cleanup of the areas of concern. To accomplish this goal. the Legacy Act targeted Federal resources toward the remediation of contaminated sediment within the 31 areas of concern located within the United States or shared with Canada. In many ways. the Legacy Act has been successful in laying the groundwork for addressing the areas of concern. but progress toward addressing and delisting these areas of concern has been very slow. Of the approximately 70 individual sites within the U.S. areas of concern. only four have been completely addressed. This is simply too slow. and the citizens of the Great Lakes basin demand that we take action to accelerate this process. It is my hope that this legislation will set that in motion. Over the past year. my subcommittee has investigated why progress has slowed and has received several recommendations for targeted changes to the Legacy Act from stakeholders closely related with cleanup projects. H.R. 6460 encapsulates many of these recommendations. and it is intended to address the lessons learned as implementation of the Legacy Act program has matured. First. H.R. 6460 significantly increases the authorization of appropriations for sediment remediation projects in the areas of concern. from $50 million to $150 million annually through 2013. The committee strongly believes that the increase in overall authorization and appropriations for this program will accelerate the pace of cleanup of the areas of concern. With full appropriation of the authorized amounts. it is our hope to complete the cleanup of all U.S. areas of concern within the next decade.. Second. in order to facilitate better understanding of the types. nature and volume of toxic sediment at contaminated sites. H.R. 6460 authorizes the administrator to carry out a site assessment of eligible projects at Federal expense. This authority should overcome two difficulties identified in the implementation of the Legacy Act. the lack of sufficient information on the extent of the contamination and the identification of potential nonFederal costshare partners for subsequent phases of remediation projects. The language in H.R. 6460 attempts to replicate the successful model of the Corps of Engineers reconnaissance studies for Great Lakes sediment remediation projects. Again. this important change should accelerate the process of identifying the scope of contamination projects and quickly move projects from the conceptual stage to planning. design and construction phases. Third. H.R. 6460 authorizes Legacy Act funding to be utilized for the restoration of aquatic habitat. provided that this restoration activity is carried out in conjunction with a sediment cleanup project. Oftentimes. contaminated sediment has caused harm to neighboring aquatic habitat. and it is the presence of both contaminated sediment and the degraded aquatic habitat that results in sites being deemed as impaired. By allowing the simultaneous remediation of sediment. along with corresponding aquatic habitat. the Legacy Act should accelerate the process of delisting sites. Finally. H.R. 6460 includes language requiring the administrator to provide assurance that the Environmental Protection Agency has conducted a reasonable inquiry to identify parties that are potentially liable for sediment contamination before a site can proceed under the Legacy Act. The committee believes that this provision is consistent with the intent of the original Legacy Act. as well as the "polluter pays" principle. In addition. this provision - should help maximize the leveraging potential of contributions from nonFederal sources through the identification and encouraged participation of responsible parties in remediation activities. While some have expressed concern that this provision will require additional time. it should neither present an opportunity to excessively delay cleanup projects. nor to divert additional sites to other Federal and State cleanup authorities. In addition. EPA is encouraged to coordinate this effort with State authorities ant. where appropriate. utilize existing State efforts to identify responsible parties as a basis for its responsibilities under this Act. Again. let me congratulate Congressman EHLERS and Congressman OBERSTAR for moving this important legislation forward. It is my hope that this legislation will mark another turning point in our joint efforts to remediate the Great Lakes areas of concern. and that by the time this legislation is again ripe for reauthorization. we will be within reach of completing the task* of remediating the toxic legacy of the Great Lakes past. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.