Joel Hefley: “I rise today because I have LUST on my mind. I think the American people are concerned about LUST as well. Of course…”

“I rise today because I have LUST on my mind. I think the American people are concerned about LUST as well. Of course, when I say LUST, I am talking about the Leaking Underground Storage Tank trust fund, or LUST, as the program is called. As the gentleman from California knows, the LUST program provides cleanup resources for environmentally hazardous leaking underground storage tanks that have been abandoned, or where the owner cannot afford to clean it up. The money in the trust fund was incurred through a sales tax on motor fuel, and most of it goes directly to the States for cleanup. Recent estimates calculate there are over 165,000 of these sites across the country. That does not include the ones that have yet to be discovered. These contaminated sites are located in both urban and rural areas, areas where our groundwater comes from or mainly where our children play. By increasing the funding level up to the President's request, and I would make a point of that, Mr. Chairman, that I am talking about increasing the funding level in this environmental program to clean up the underground storage tanks to the President's request of $71.2 million, we can continue the progress we have made in cleaning up these sites.”