Bob Latta: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 2279 and specifically a section of the…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 2279 and specifically a section of the bill I sponsored referred to as the Federal Facility Accountability Act. This commonsense legislation updates CERCLA to ensure that Federal facilities are held to the same level of accountability as private facilities when it comes to cleaning up the release of hazardous substances. This legislation is supported by a number of State entities that have had numerous problems with Federal facilities skirting their CERCLA cleanup responsibilities. As the Department of Environmental Conservation Contaminated Sites program in Alaska pointed out during one of our subcommittee hearings, a recurring problem is when Federal entities use sovereign immunity as a bar to limit or even refute State involvement and oversight of agency cleanups. In these instances, the Federal agency is acting as the responsible party and the regulator in which they get to determine which laws to apply, how safe the remedy needs to be, and they also pay the bill. Further, there is inconsistency in how some Federal agencies apply their CERCLA authority.…”