Barbara Boxer: “I strongly oppose report language included in this conference agreement that will delay the cleanup of waters…”

“I strongly oppose report language included in this conference agreement that will delay the cleanup of waters contaminated with toxic pollutants such as DDT and PCBs. We tried to work with my colleagues to change this language. We were unable to be successful. The language will remain in because you can't strike report language, but we have a sense of the Senate that is very clear. Basically the operative language, which was just read by the clerk, is: It is the sense of the Congress that the Environmental Protection Agency should move swiftly to clean up river and ocean sites around the nation that have been contaminated with PCBs, DDT, dioxins, metals and other toxic chemicals in order to protect public health, safety and the environment. The report language included in this bill--remember, this is an appropriations bill--prohibits the EPA from cleaning up river and ocean sites that are contaminated with these horrible pollutants until the National Academy of Sciences completes a study or until June of 2000, whichever comes first. That isn't the worst of it. The worst of it is, we believe this language opens up a whole new loophole, which is really going to mean we are going to have many more court suits. I will get to that in a minute. We think this language could delay the cleanup of at least six Superfund sites nationwide. One of them happens to be in California.”