Jeff Duncan: “H.R. 2869 combines the text of H.R. 1831, the Small Business Liability Protection Act, with the text of S. 350, the…”

“H.R. 2869 combines the text of H.R. 1831, the Small Business Liability Protection Act, with the text of S. 350, the Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act of 2001. I strongly support title I of H.R. 2869. As the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Gillmor) mentioned, Title I earlier passed the House 419 to 0. Title I will protect small businesses from Superfund liability. It prevents lawsuits against people and businesses who should not be held liable for the costs of cleaning up a Superfund site, either because they send only a very small amount of waste to a site, or because their waste was ordinary trash. I am very proud of this legislation, and was pleased to have sponsored this, along with the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Gillmor) and others. Title II of this legislation is intended to encourage brownfields redevelopment. Brownfields redevelopment is very important, as previous speakers have mentioned. Our economy is changing. We have lost manufacturing jobs. Communities across America have lost thousands of jobs. I held a subcommittee hearing on this issue of brownfields redevelopment earlier this year, and I agree that we should be doing everything we can to encourage the redevelopment of these brownfields sites. Unfortunately, the brownfields title of this bill is not drafted as clearly as I would like, but let me make clear the intent of title II is to encourage brownfields redevelopment, and it needs to be read with that goal in mind.”