Robert Torricelli: “I asked that this amendment be read in its entirety so that its simplicity is clear to the Senate. The totality of what…”

“I asked that this amendment be read in its entirety so that its simplicity is clear to the Senate. The totality of what is being asked is that the Justice Department, in negotiating with the W.R. Grace Corporation about a contaminated Superfund site in Wayne, NJ, seek fair reimbursement. We make no demands. We change no law. We cite no number. We ask that there be a fair reimbursement. I have done this because the story of W.R. Grace and its contamination in Wayne, NJ, is a story of everything that has been wrong about environmental cleanups in our country. Since 1995 the Federal Government, has been in negotiations with W.R. Grace for reimbursements. This is a site that a private company operated for 23 years. They operated it at a profit. The Government owned no share of the land or the company. When the land was no longer useful because it was contaminated, they abandoned it and left. In the ensuing years, they have given the U.S. Government $800,000, although the U.S. taxpayers have already spent $50 million cleaning the site. It is estimated by the Army Corps of Engineers it could cost another $55 million. Members of the Senate need to know the American taxpayers are being held accountable for $100 million in cleaning this contaminated site by the W.R. Grace Corporation and that corporation has paid only $800,000. The American taxpayers are paying this freight although they have absolutely no liability whatever as a matter of law.”