July 11, 1979
Page 17995
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, today, a number of members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are jointly introducing legislation designed to help solve problems created by the spread of hazardous chemicals throughout our environment.
This is another step in the process that has involved this committee since 1970. Legislation first directed the administration to examine the problems of spills of hazardous substances. Then a regulatory program was added to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in 1972. Last year, Senators STAFFORD, CHAFEE, and I introduced S. 2900, which expanded liability for hazardous substances spills into the water and created a fund to help deal with cleanup expenses and damages.
This year the Resource Protection and Environmental Pollution Subcommittees began to jointly develop this issue through hearings on the release of hazardous substances into the environment. These hearings began in March, and will continue through the summer.
This month we started our discussions on the legislative solutions to the problems posed by abandoned and inactive waste sites, as well as other sources that spread toxic chemicals into the environment. Two days of legislative hearings were held in Washington, and a field hearing was held in Iowa. We have begun to examine the legislative alternatives, with particular focus on S. 1341, the administration's bill.
When we began, we had to answer two deceptively simple questions:
First, what shall we do to help cap the growth of chemical contamination of our environment?
Second, what cleanup and compensation should we provide?
Our present laws are not enough.
We must correct deficiencies in liability established under present statutes.
We must correct those omissions in the law having to do with past hazardous waste disposal methods.
We must enlarge the Government's authority to respond to environmental emergencies generally.
The bipartisan effort that has dominated the development of this legislation will be important to any successful legislative solutions. I am pleased to see a number of my colleagues cosponsoring this legislation. The ranking Republicans on both subcommittees and the subcommittee chairmen have worked together to develop this bill we are introducing today.
The bill will break some new ground. Because it does, some of the provisions will need further refinement. Those who disagree with specific items bear a responsibility to suggest improvements, and not just simply easy deletions.
There are hearings and markups still to be held on this legislation. The bill we introduce here will obviously go through further modification, and we invite comments from all those who are interested in this important subject.