The following information was distributed
by the Fabricare Legislative and Regulatory Education committee on October 13, 1995.
Recently a small group of drycleaners announced that they are attempting to get the United States Congress to pass The Small Business Remediation Act, a proposed piece of legislation designed to establish Clean up standards for spilled or waste chemical substances. The act would set forth minimum levels for determining when it is necessary to perform remediation in soil, surface water, groundwater and other environmental media, initially, for solvents for the drycleaning industry.
In its September editorial, the American Drycleaner encouraged drycleaners to decide if they were in favor of the Small Business Fabric Care Superfund Coalition Reauthorization proposal, or another legislative solution not involving a fund, such as a more reasonable cleanup standard, although details of the Small Business Remediation Act were not available at that time.
The release of the Remediation Act has caused some confusion and concern among industry members. In an effort clear up potential misunderstanding, the Small Business Fabric Care Superfund Coalition offers the following analysis to help put the Small Business Remediation Act of 1995 into perspective, and explain the relationship between the two proposals.
Comparing the two proposals in an effort to determine which better serves the industry is comparing apples to oranges.
The Small Business Fabric Care Superfund Coalition Reauthorization Proposal, hereafter referred to as the Coalition's proposal, is designed to provide a solution to potentially devastating and unfounded civil litigation costs drycleaners are exposed to under Superfund legislation. If passed, the legislation in most cases precludes, and in all instances will take away the incentive for these civil lawsuits and give the industry immediate relief, while at the same time ensuring contaminated sites are cleaned up when it is necessary to protect human health and safety to do so.
In contrast, the Small Business Remediation Act, hereafter referred to as the Remediation Act, proposes only a change in clean-up standards, which although necessary, would not take away the opportunity or incentive for this unreasonable and unfounded litigation.
Therefore, the important thing to take note of, is that provisions in both proposals are needed to ensure the viability of the future of the drycleaning industry. The industry must protect itself from the financial burden Superfund imposes, which remains regardless of whether clean-up standards are changed. In addition it is in the industry's best interest to take steps to change the current clean-up standards, which are generally agreed to be unrealistic and unreasonable. The Coalition's position is that the two proposals are complimentary; the Superfund amendment must be passed first, followed by the setting of more realistic clean-up standards.
The coalition fully agrees with the principle concerns and objectives defined in the Remediation Act; that is; the public should be protected from the risk of waste or spilled solvents, that the remediation requirements for spilled or waste chemical substances are often inconsistent, conflicting and may impose a burden that bears little relationship to the potential harm to the environment, and that such requirements pose a special burden on small businesses and landowners.
The Coalition further agrees that Congress should set standards for remediation that, with an adequate margin of safety, will protect public health from significant risk, and below which level remediation should be permitted but not required. However, the Remediation Act in itself is not a sufficient solution for solving the problems facing drycleaners.
Any legislative proposal must be politically achievable and must be able to be managed by the appropriate Administrative Agencies. There are clear and distinct legislative jurisdictions and procedures for introducing and passing new legislation. The Small Business Fabric Care Superfund Coalition has carefully planned and executed its strategy for using these procedures. Many hundreds of hours have been devoted to educating key members of Congress and their staffs both in Washington and at the grass roots level as to the purposes and validity of the Coalition's proposed legislation. It is important therefore that the Small Business Remediation Act is not misunderstood by Congress as an alternative to the Coalition's proposal.
While the intent of the Remediation Act is sound, there are a number of experienced people, including Congressional staff, lawyers, and even the solvent producers, who believe that trying to closely tie, or make inter-dependent, the standards of EPA and OSHA is politically and administratively impossible to achieve.
The members of the Coalition sincerely believe and advocate that we not choose between one group's proposal and another, but instead work together to achieve our common goals using the best ideas available to us.
For more information call Catherine Adams at FLARE, 708/416-6221; Mary Scalco at IFI, 301/622-1900; or Mike Smith, chairman, FLARE Legislative Committee, 602/943-2292
Return to SuperfundDate created: 95.10.13 Last modified: 95.10.13 Hal Horning hhorning@pond.com