A serious bill

Barton lauds progress on HR 1711

72 cosponsors are signed on. He predicts 100 soon

The Barton bill has come a long way since it was introduced in Congress last May, in the assessment of the bill's author, Texas Republican Joe Barton. But Barton said the bill still has a long ways to go.

Speaking before an audience of about 150 at the Southwest Drycleaners Association convention in Austin, Texas, March 7, Barton said with 72 colleagues joining him as cosponsors, the legislation, formally known as The Small Business Remediation Act, is now a "serious" bill.

"If you want to compare where we were a year ago, this is a serious bill. It is a serious player. It has more cosponsors than any other environmental bill. But we still have a lot of work to do," Barton said.

He believes that the goal of 100 cosponsors, which he laid down ina speech before a siilar size audience at the Clean show last June, will be reached soon.

While the bill has been gradually gaining congressional supporters, no opposition has arisen, Barton said. Still there are obstacles to getting the legislation passed in Congress and signed by the president. Those include a crowded and short legislative agenda for 1998, a reluctance of some members of Congress to get involved with any kind of environmental legislation and, ultimately, opposition from EPA and the Clinton Administration.

Prospects for anything happening in Congress this year are limited by lack of time. Only a few legislative days remain on the calendar this year, Barton noted. The only chance of passage this year would come if the bill could be attached to some other piece of legislation that is moving through congress.

Failing that -- and assuming the he is re-elected this November -- Barton said he would reintroduce the bill in the next Congress and believes he could quickly reassemble the supporters who have signed on to the bill thus far.

In the meantime, the drive will continue to gain more supporters in the House and seek a sponsor for companion legislation in the Senate. As more sponsors sign on, Barton said, it becomes easier for those who are reluctant to get involved with environmental legislation to get behind the bill. Their reluctance does not indicate a lack of support, he said. Rather, they are waiting to see if the bill has enough popular support to eventually succeed. That is particularly true in the case of committee chairmen who must decide whether to schedule hearings for the bill.

Thus the need to continue adding names of sponsors to the legislation. Six more joined the list March 5 and at least two of those appeared to be a direct results of a Phone and Fax Day conducted by the Mid-Atlantic Association of Cleaners and Launderers.

Two representatives from MACLA's area signed on -- Maryland Republicans Robert Ehrlich and Roscoe Bartlett. MACLA executive director David Norford said positive responses short of a full commitment were received from Republicans Thomas Bliley and Herbert Bateman of Virginia and Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat.

Others signing in early March were Republican Edward Royce of California and Sonny Callahan of Alabama and Democrats Chris John of Louisiana and Bud Cramer of Alabama. With those additions, the sponsors for the bill now include 17 Democrats and 56 Republicans from 28 states.

Increasing the ranks of Democratic sponsors is one of the goals Barton laid down at the Austin meeting. Eventual opposition from EPA is likely, but that could be mitigated if there are enough Democrats among the bill's sponsors, Barton said.

"If EPA had to give an official opinion (on the bill) on behalf of the president today, EPA would probably oppose the bill," Barton said. That would cause problems for Democrats in Congress. Partly for that reason, the bill's supporters would like to find a Democrat to sponsor the bill in the Senate.

Barton held out the possibility that a confrontation with EPA could be avoided. "I don't want to pick a fight that we might not have to pick," Barton said. "I'm not ready to write EPA off yet."

Barton also encouraged drycleaners to exercise their political power on behalf of the bill. "Drycleaners have a strong political base. You touch a lot of people every day. Congress listens to people because people are voters."

They way to be heard is basic, he said. "People listen to people who talk to them." He advised cleaners to attend their representatives' town meetings and bring up the Barton bill, or make phone calls to the representative's office or, if in Washington, stop in for a personal visit.

"Drycleaners ought to be commended," Barton said. "We've gone from about 10 sponsors to more than 70 in less than a year." Although it may seem like slow going at times, it is not, he said, "pushing water up a hill."

In a panel discussion that followed Barton's talk, Gary Baise of the Baise, Miller law firm expanded on those remarks, saying that the industry doesn't have enough money to "buy" the votes to pass the bill, but "we can talk to people."

"You have more votes than the environmentalists," he told the Austin audience.

The Barton bill, he said, is "a common-sense cleanup solution that guts the silliness of Superfund."

"It is nonsense to have people cleaning up to drinking water standards," Baise said.

Baise predicted that the bill will have 100 cosponsors by the first anniversary of its introduction and further added, "We will succeed because our position is correct."

The Barton bill would set federal cleanup standards for drycleaning solvent in the soil or groundwater at one-tenth the level OSHA allows for exposure of people who work with those solvents in drycleaning plants. Currently the OSHA limit for perc is 100 parts per million averaged over an eight-hour period. Under the Barton bill, that would translate to a cleanup standard of 10 parts per million of perc in soil and groundwater.

OSHA is in the process of reviewing the workplace exposure limits for perc. Baise said it may be set as low as 15 parts per million, but even if it were lowered to 5 parts per million (or 5,000 parts per billion) the resulting cleanup standard for perc of 500 parts per billion would still be less stringent than the current 5 parts per billion called for in federal drinking water standards.

"There is no way you would have any kind of major risk from material in concrete soil or groundwater," Baise said. He added that the Barton bill would not affect the drinking water standard of 5 parts per billion.

The Details...

• Dry Cleaners Action Fund of America
• Text of the Barton Bill
• Summary of HR 1711
• Rep. Barton's "Dear Colleague" letter
• The Barton bill Scorecard
• Barney Deden's letter to drycleaners

Information from FLARE to help cleaners get the message to Congress

• Sample Congressional Letter
• Talking Points
• How the Barton Bill Protects Cleaners from Excessive Clean-up Costs
• Environmental Problems Facing Drycleaners
• Possible Arguments Against The Bill

Contacting Your Representative

• Step-by-step guide to congressional contact
• Congressional Directory
• Locate Your Representative
• Members of Key Committees dealing with the Barton bill