Charles T. Canady: “I rise today to offer an avenue of relief to small businesses and individuals throughout the country who have done…”

“I rise today to offer an avenue of relief to small businesses and individuals throughout the country who have done nothing wrong, but are nonetheless being held liable for the expensive task of Superfund site clean up. As you know, Congress passed the Superfund law in 1980 to clean up the country's most polluted waste sites. The merits of the Superfund effort are without question. Superfund sites are environmental disaster areas which have a clear potential for impact on public health and safety. Superfund sites must be cleaned up. But while the Superfund law may have a noble purpose, the details are a nightmare. The framers of Superfund, adhering to the concept of 'polluter pays,' created a scheme of joint and several and retroactive liability. This wrongheaded provision has forced many individuals and small businesses to pay a portion of the clean up costs although they are not in fact responsible for the pollution. This structure has resulted in a notorious tangle of litigation and enforcement, and it has wreaked havoc on the lives of innocent citizens while accomplishing very little in the way of actual clean up.”