Barbara Kennelly: “I rise to express on this rule my opposition to the funding level in the bill for the Formerly Utilized Site Remedial…”

“I rise to express on this rule my opposition to the funding level in the bill for the Formerly Utilized Site Remedial Action Program, FUSRAP, as it is called. Mr. Speaker, I have one of those sites in my district. Radioactive material from it has now leaked into a tributary of the Farmington River. The Farmington River is a wild and scenic river, one of our Nation's treasures. For this reason, I wrote to the Committee on Appropriations, strongly supporting funding at the administration's requested level of $182 million for FUSRAP. According to the Department of Energy, that level of funding would permit cleanup of all the existing sites by 2002 rather than what we are talking about now, 2016. An accelerated cleanup program would limit both environmental damage and cost, including the costs associated with maintenance and management of these sites. Unfortunately, the committee was unable to accommodate this request and now, to make matters worse, has included in this bill a provision to transfer the jurisdiction of FUSRAP from the Department of Energy to the Army Corps of Engineers. Further, the bill directs the Corps of Engineers to evaluate the cost and timetable for the cleanup. Mr. Speaker, this transfer will serve only to slow critical cleanup of these sites further, endangering the natural resources of the communities near them. Mr. Speaker, these communities have already made sacrifices for national security.”