Earl Blumenauer: “I appreciated what we just heard a moment ago from the chairman and my friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr).…”

“I appreciated what we just heard a moment ago from the chairman and my friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr). And I appreciate the gentleman's long involvement with this issue and sensitizing us to it. I am deeply concerned that the parameters that the gentleman from California outlined are such that we are going to have to take a serious step back and do something this Congress. I mentioned earlier, I know that the new subcommittee's configuration gave it broad scope with lots to do. But it is time for us to take a step back and give proper focus to the problem of military cleanup on bases that have been realigned and closed. My amendment would simply say, before we start the fifth round of base closure, the fifth round, that we ought to take some of that money that has been designated for the fifth round and instead keep faith with the 17 communities that are waiting, now since 1988, to have their problems solved. We are all aware of the trauma that can take place in communities when bases close, how they lose jobs. They are upset. But to compound it by leaving people with a toxic white elephant is absolutely unacceptable. I have before me here a list of the 1988 BRAC installations and the estimated date of the cleanup. At the top of the list, in no particular order, in Sacramento, California. They are going to have to wait till the year 2072 to be able to fully clean this up. As we go down the list, it is absolutely unacceptable.…”