Hon. Michael G. Oxley: “as the estimable Yogi Berra said, ``It's like deja vu all over again.'' H.R. 688 is the same Leaking Underground Storage…”

“as the estimable Yogi Berra said, ``It's like deja vu all over again.'' H.R. 688 is the same Leaking Underground Storage Tank bill we passed by a voice vote on the floor just 7 months ago in the last Congress. Except for a couple of technical, completely nonsubstantive changes, everything is the same except the number. The LUST program cleans up leaking underground storage tanks and requires tank owners to put in new tanks meeting tough Federal standards by the end of next year. The program is funded by a dedicated trust fund. Owners of cars pay taxes into the LUST trust fund. On every gallon of gas we pay a one-tenth of a cent tax for the LUST program. This tax went into effect in 1987 and expired at the end of 1995, but only 40 percent of the money we have paid has been spent out on the program. We have spent only $655 million on LUST since 1987 out of $1.7 billion collected. Before we give the taxes another ride, we ought to look carefully at using what we have already collected. Congress did not create the trust fund for the sake of having another trust fund; it was created to fund this particular program. In contrast with some other environmental programs, we taxpayers seem to have gotten an effective program for our LUST money. With financial assistance from EPA cooperative agreements, States have secured cleanup of 140,000 sites since 1987. Contrast this with Superfund.…”