[CPEO-BIF] Brownfields legislation "pulled"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

The following came to us from THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL
ENGINEERS (ASME):

HOUSE BROWNFIELDS BILL PULLED FROM SCHEDULE INDEFINITELY

A bill designed to encourage the development of contaminated industrial
sites was pulled from the House calendar after a dispute over labor wage
rates. H.R. 2869 combined two separate bills:  S. 350, a brownfields
bill passed by the Senate by 99-0 in April; and, H.R. 1831, a superfund
liability measure passed by the House 419-0 in May.  H.R. 2869 would
have authorized up to $250 million per year for five years to clean up
industrial sites, while at the same time transferring some of the
oversight authority from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
the states. In addition, the bill would have limited the liability of
small business owners and others who contributed minimal amounts of
waste to a superfund site.

The brownfields bill, a top environmental priority of the Bush
Administration, came under fire from labor officials who wanted EPA to
clarify in writing that the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act apply to all programs
under the bill. The Davis-Bacon Act required that workers on a federal
construction site be paid the area's prevailing wage rate.  Supporters
of the legislation concede that further action is unlikely until
sometime next year.

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
lsiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To read CPEO's archived Brownfields messages visit
http://www.cpeo.org/lists/brownfields

If this email has been forwarded to you and you'd
like to subscribe, please send a message to
cpeo-brownfields-subscribe@igc.topica.com 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

==^================================================================
EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://igc.topica.com/u/?aVxieR.aVGyPL
Or send an email To: cpeo-brownfields-unsubscribe@igc.topica.com
This email was sent to: cpeo-brownfields@npweb.craigslist.org

T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
==^================================================================