Volume 141, No. 23 covering the 1st Session of the 104th Congress (1995 - 1996) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SUPERFUND LIABILITY MORATORIUM” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1216 on Feb. 6, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUPERFUND LIABILITY MORATORIUM
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 1995, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Canady] is recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer an avenue of relief to small businesses and individuals throughout the country who have done nothing wrong, but are nonetheless being held liable for the expensive task of Superfund site clean up.
As you know, Mr. Speaker, Congress passed the Superfund law in 1980 to clean up the country's most polluted waste sites. The merits of the Superfund effort are without question. Superfund sites are environmental disaster areas which have a clear potential for impact on public health and safety. Superfund sites must be cleaned up.
But while the Superfund law may have a noble purpose, the details are a nightmare. The framers of Superfund, adhering to the concept of
``polluter pays,'' created a scheme of joint and several and retroactive liability. This wrongheaded provision has forced many individuals and small businesses to pay a portion of the clean up costs although they are not in fact responsible for the pollution.
Mr. Speaker, this structure has resulted in a notorious tangle of litigation and enforcement, and it has wreaked havoc on the lives of innocent citizens while accomplishing very little in the way of actual clean up.
These innocent individuals had no knowledge of the release of hazardous substances into the environment. They were simply trying to do the right thing by contracting with a third party for proper disposal. Now they are liable, under Superfund, for the cleanup of environmental disasters they did not create.
Such liability without culpability is patently unfair. It runs contrary to common sense and the fundamental requirements of justice. Further, it can be financially devastating to innocent individuals who are caught in the Superfund trap.
There is general agreement, in this body and elsewhere, that the Superfund liability structure must be changed. I am aware that the appropriate committees and subcommittees in both Houses of Congress are working on a comprehensive reform effort. I support this effort.
However, as Congress debates the shape and scope of reform, individuals in my district and elsewhere continue to be pursued and persecuted for something they did not do. This is not right, Mr. Speaker. We must stop this injustice and prevent this law from further disrupting the lives of innocent individuals.
It is for this reason that I introduced H.R. 795 last week to provide relief for innocent parties while we proceed with comprehensive reform of the law. My bill instructs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] to cease all agency actions against the nonpolluters. It also places a moratorium on the authority for contribution actions under the statute.
It is important, Mr. Speaker, to explain what my bill does not do. It does not abolish the Superfund Program, it does not repeal Superfund funding authority and it does not stop the clean up of Superfund sites. It allows the EPA to continue its enforcement actions against the true polluters--the culpable owners and operators of the contaminated sites and all others who had prior knowledge of illegal or environmentally harmful disposal activities.
H.R. 795 simply suspends the practice of financing Superfund clean ups on the backs of innocent people who had no knowledge of wrongdoing and no intent to harm the environment.
This legislation is needed to provide relief to the innocent individuals caught in the Superfund liability trap. The Superfund nightmare has gone on far too long. We should stop the injustice without further delay. I encourage my colleagues to join me in this effort.
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