Steve Buyer: “Mr. Chairman, I have to rise in opposition to the Markey amendment here tonight. I did take special interest, though…”

“Mr. Chairman, I have to rise in opposition to the Markey amendment here tonight. I did take special interest, though, when the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Pallone, spoke, when I noticed and it first came to my attention that the gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. Markey, had 32 sites in his own district, of which only 2 had been cleaned up, and then when I noticed the district of Mr. Pallone, the 6th District of New Jersey has 9 Superfund sites, zero have been completely cleaned up, 7 of those sites came in 1983. Really, I find it very fascinating that Members would want to defend the status quo when in fact so many Superfund sites have been on the books for so long. If our commitment is to a healthier and safer environment, what are we doing? Time out. What in fact are we doing? The purpose of Superfund is to protect public health from the dangerous release of materials in a cost effective manner. Sixteen years after the law was enacted, lawyers, not the environment, have become the big winners. What I have here is a scroll. On this scroll is a list of thousands and thousands of lawyers who have been retained at over 1,300 of the Superfund sites.”