Washington, D.C. - In an Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee hearing on Superfund sites, Subcommittee on the Environment and Climate Change Republican Leader David B. McKinley (R-WV) advocated for the Biden administration to build on the successes made by the Trump administration.
Excerpts and highlights from his prepared remarks:
SUPERFUND SITES
“Everyone supports cleaning up Superfund sites. They’re a blight on America.
“Unfortunately, there are over 1,100 designated Superfund sites around the country. President Obama cleaned up 82 Superfund sites in 8 years. I.e., 10 sites per year.
“So do the math, it would take us over 100 years to get rid of all the superfund sites and by that time, more sites will be added to that list."
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SUCCESS
“So what was the problem? Under President Obama, his focus was climate change. Superfund sites were neglected.
“Now, how does that differ from Trump? President Trump cleaned up sites at twice the annual rate, 20 per year. President Trump made cleaning up these sites a priority.
“His task force developed an ‘emphasis list’ so that they were following a plan, one that wasn’t politically driven.
“As a result, sites like West Lake Landfill in Missouri, Diamond Alkali Company in New Jersey, Tar Creek in Oklahoma, and Madison County Mines in Missouri were all taken care of.
“He put together a lean management system that made the Superfund process more efficient and clean ups happen faster.
“And he clearly did more outreach to communities.
“Elected officials all around the country appreciated his attention to their problem sites.
“As former Chairman Walden mentioned in previous hearings, in a thank you note, an elected official from Portland, Oregon wrote that they had been waiting for years for EPA to clean up the Willamette River and Portland Harbor, and Trump made it happen.
“And according to a Politico article last year, a prominent Superfund activist said, ‘even though she couldn’t stand Trump, he was getting something done.’
“She went on to say that ‘Obama was terrible on these issues Gina McCarthy only cared about the climate.’
“She said that until the Trump administration, the last time she saw that much work being done on Superfund sites was never."
PROBLEMS WITH THE CLEAN FUTURE ACT’S SUPERFUND PROVISIONS
“Mr. Chairman, this legislation doesn’t seem to support building atop the Trump successes. But rather, it seems like it’s going to slow things down.
“And because it’s tied to the CLEAN Future Act, the Superfund program will be mired down in the climate change debate, and buried under reams of new bureaucratic requirements, relegated to the back burner like it was under Obama.
“In so doing, we can only expect the clean up process to slow down again, with less empathy to rural communities saddled with the horrors of a Superfund site in their background.
“So, Mr. Chairman, don’t tell me Congress is going to clean up these sites. Show me."
