1997 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 08:50:21 -0700 (PDT)
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: HR1778 Update
 
UPDATE ON H.R. 1778
 Monday, June 16

 The House National Security Committee will hold a hearing on H.R.
1778, the Defense Reform Act of 1997, tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17 at
10 a.m., 2118 Rayburn Building, Washington. Title III of the bill
rewrites Superfund, severely weakens existing environmental standards,
and exempts the Departments of Defense and Energy from various
Superfund and Clean Air requirement. The committee reported out the
bill last Thursday, after an attempt by Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.) to
strip out the environmental riders was defeated on a party-line vote.

The hearing will cover the entire bill. There will three panels of
witnesses. The first panel will be Administration witnesses,
including the Defense Department, EPA and perhaps the Energy
Department. The second panel will focus on the nonenvironmental
provisions of the bill. The third panel will be outside witnesses
testifying on Title III. They will include a state Attorney General,
a cleanup contractor, a law professor, and probably another state
official. The exact witnesses are still being working by the
committee staff. The environmental community is unlikely to have a
witness as its two Superfund experts (Karen Florini of EDF and
Jaqueline Hamilton of NRDC) are on vacation this week.

The chairman of the House National Security Committee, Rep. Floyd
Spence (D-S.C.), is expected to propose that H.R. 1778 be offered as
one or two floor amendments to the annual defense authorization bill.
The regular defense bill, H.R. 1119, goes to the House Rules Committee
on Wednesday. That committee is likely to follow the lead of
Republicans on the National Security Committee, unless there are
strong objections from Republicans on the House Commerce Committee and
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which have
jurisdiction over Superfund. To date, majority members of both
committees have had no public comment on the bill, although they are
known to be seeking changes.

The defense authorization bill could be on the floor of the House this
Thursday and could be finished as early as Friday afternoon. Thus a
vote on the environmental provisions of Title III could occur on
Thursday or Friday. The exact language of the amendment and the
sponsor may not be known until the time of the vote.

H.R. 1778 is on the Internet at the Library of Congress' Thomas site
and at the GPO site. An analysis of the provisions by Lenny Siegel,
Pacific Studies Center, and by the Colorado Attorney General can be
found on the Internet at:
<gopher://gopher.igc.org/11/environment/toxics/miltox/mailinglist>

 WHAT TO DO: Representatives should be encouraged to vote against
adding Title III (the environmental provisions) of H.R. 1778 to the
defense authorization bill. (The exact name of the amendment sponsor
will not be known until later.) All Representatives can be reached
through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 225-3121. Most offices are
open until 6 p.m. EDT.

 | David Culp | E-mail: dculp@nrdc.org |
| Plutonium Challenge | Tel. +1 (202) 289-2388 |
| Washington, D.C. | Fax +1 (202) 289-1060 |

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