On the recordJuly 12, 2016
I certainly understand the value of EPA's brownfields program. It is highly leveraged and promotes economic development in communities by cleaning up lightly contaminated properties and returning them to beneficial use. These are good things, no doubt about it. That is why the FY 2017 Interior bill continues to provide the brownfields program with $80 million. That is equal to the enacted level. With limited resources, we need to be strategic about where we provide increases. The FY 2017 bill increases funding to clean up most toxic contaminated Superfund sites across the Nation. We will debate some Democratic amendments that seek to increase the Superfund account beyond what we have done in the bill in order to match the President's request. Certainly, no one wants to live next to a Superfund site. We have more than 1,300 sites on the Superfund list. These sites contain led, arsenic, cadmium, PCBs, and other highly toxic chemicals. We need to make progress on these 1,300 sites. So, I must oppose the proposed cut to the Superfund and strongly urge my colleagues to do the same. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
