Re: TX AG RESPONSE TO 346 AMMEND

[stegcraj@igc.org]

From: mrms <stegcraj@ix.netcom.com>

with respect to the amendment to Cercla in sen smith's floor amendment, I 
suggest that we stop treating this as the beginnning of the end and address 
the SPECIFIC objections. The real question is, do we need a change to the 
law in the case of base closure property ? 

There is nothing immoral about fixing that specific area and leaving the 
rest of Cercla alone for now. If we wait for a comprehensive overhaul of 
CERCLA, is there anyone out there who believes that it will be accomplished 
in the near term? Certainly not this election year. If we are going to see 
real activity at former bases, we need to move the property out of the Federal
inventory, retain the Federal obligation to clean it up, have an effective 
waiver of both sovereign immunity and the anti deficiency act ( as in PL 
85-804) and preclude the present alternative of including institutional 
controls as part of the remedy selection process. DoD and DoE are both looking
VERY hard at institutional controls because they are presently allowed under 
the NCP, will save lots of money, and offer communities a quick fix. The long 
term consequences are not receiving much attention because this is the year of 
risk based activity and deed restrictions look like they will reduce risk 
without spending a lot of money. If we don't work on fixing this situation 
with specific and realistic proposals, we will inherit a lot of contaminated 
property with constraints and long term monitoring.