ASTSWMO LETTER

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

ASTSWMO Letter Re H.R.1778

Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management 
Officials
444 North Capitol Street, N.W., Suite 315
Washington, DC 20001

June 16, 1997

The Honorable Floyd Spence
Chairman, House National Security Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
2120 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Spence:

We understand that H.R. 1778, the Defense Reform Act of 1997 
was recently marked up in the House National Security Committee. 
The purpose of this letter is to express our strong displeasure with 
provisions contained in Title III - Environmental Reforms - and to 
urge that these provisions be deleted and/or opposed during 
subsequent floor consideration. The Association of State and 
Territorial Solid Waste Management Official (ASTSWMO) believes 
these provisions should be stricken based on both a procedural and 
substantive basis.

First, ASTSWMO has been working with both the House 
Commerce Committee and the House Transportation and 
Infrastructure Committee to achieve comprehensive reform of the 
Superfund program. These committees have spent the last several 
months holding bipartisan stakeholder meetings at which 
ASTSWMO and many other interest groups have been represented. 
Title III of H.R. 1778 addresses many of the substantive remedy 
selection issues (future land use, treatment requirements, generic 
remedies, etc.) which are currently being debated in an open process 
within the two House environment committees. We do not believe 
H.R. 1778 should seek to circumvent this process by unilaterally 
making substantive remedy selection changes to the Superfund 
program. These provisions should continue to be debated and 
discussed affording all affected parties an opportunity to provide 
input, i.e., federal and State regulators, community representatives, 
and the industrial community.

Second, we find many of the provisions in Title III which seek to 
preempt State authority at federal facilities completely unacceptable. 
Section 304 would allow the federal government to clean up federal 
facilities to a lesser standard than other sites within a State by 
making the States pay incremental cleanup costs. We do not believe 
State agencies should be held responsible for the remediation costs 
of federal facilities. State standards are developed through a public 
process within the State and are (regardless of funding source) 
within a State. Section 304 also attempts to preempt States from 
utilizing their State RCRA corrective action authority at federal 
facilities which have been transferred to State authority. Section 
311 seeks to preempt States from applying State standards at non-
NPL federal facilities and section 312 allows the Department of 
Defense or the Department of Energy to decide when to terminate 
long-term operation and maintenance. State agencies will be the 
only parties left with the responsibility for the long-term operation 
and maintenance should a termination decision be reached 
prematurely by DOD or DOE.

These are only a few of the primary substantive issues in title III of 
H.R. 1778 which we find objectionable. We do not believe the 
federal government in its attempt to remediate these sites should pass 
yon the costs to State governments or seek through legislation to be 
held to a "special standard".

We encourage you to work to delete Title III provisions and to 
support the Superfund process currently being implemented in the 
House Commerce and Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committees.

Sincerely,

 Nicholas DiPasquale, DE
President, ASTSWMO

 Other Addresses:

The Honorable Ronald Dellums
Ranking Member, House National Security Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
2340 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Thomas Bliley
Chairman, House Commerce Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable John D. Dingell
Ranking Member, House Commerce Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
2322 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Bud Shuster
Chairman, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
2165 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable James Oberstar
Ranking Member, House Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
2163 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

 The Honorable Gerald Solomon
Chairman, House Rules Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
H-312 The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Joseph Moakley
Ranking Member, House Rules Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
H-152 The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515