E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 106 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 145 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1999 No. 63 House of Representatives The House met at 12:30 p.m. tainted water supply cleaned up, the into effect, and they still will not f guilty must be found, and they must be admit, is that MTBE is a powerful and punished. persistent water pollutant and, from MORNING HOUR DEBATES Now this perhaps sounds like a Holly- leaks and spills, has made its way into The SPEAKER. Pursuant to the wood plot, a Hollywood movie, but it is groundwater of nearly every State in order of the House of January 19, 1999, not, and for many communities across this Nation; the problem, of course, the Chair will now recognize Members this Nation, they are facing this situa- being worse in California, the har- from lists submitted by the majority tion. The guilty party is none other binger of what will surely come to pass and minority leaders for morning hour than the supposed protector, the Envi- in much of the rest of this country. It debates. The Chair will alternate rec- ronmental Protection Agency. takes only a small amount of MTBE to ognition between the parties, with each Tom Randall, a managing editor of make water undrinkable. It spreads party limited to 30 minutes, and each the Environmental News, recently rapidly in both groundwater and res- Member, except the majority leader, brought some articles to my attention. ervoirs, and so far attempts to remove the minority leader, or the minority They detail a pollutant being forced MTBE from water have proven difficult whip, limited to 5 minutes. upon the American public by the EPA. and costly. The Chair recognizes the gentleman The pollutant is methyl tertiary-butyl Has the EPA done anything to ad- from Florida (Mr. STEARNS) for 5 min- ether, MTBE. Now this may not be a vance independent peer review research utes. common household word to many, but into this? Not at this point, Mr. Speak- f the EPA, oil companies which were er. They have appointed a, quote, blue mandated to produce it and many com- MTBE USAGE ribbon panel to study it, a panel com- munities across this country are all posed in most parts in part of rep- Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, this too familiar with this water polluting resentatives of MTBE producers and week in the Committee on Commerce gasoline additive. environmental lobbyists which in my we are going to have a hearing Thurs- The problem began in 1990 with a opinion have vested interest in pro- day, May 6, at 9:30, concerning amend- misguided amendment to the Clean Air tecting the use of this fuel additive. ment to the Clean Air Act. I am going Act which led the EPA to mandate the to paint a little bit what the problem use of oxygenates in gasoline sold in In the meantime, States, universities is, and it is centered at the EPA. In areas which are out of compliance with and the courts are scrambling to clean their efforts to really clean up the air clean air standards. Many in this body up the EPA's mess. It is time, Mr. what has happened is they have pol- assumed the EPA had done their home- Speaker, we move to help them with luted the water, and it is a very inter- work. In California, they trusted the meaningful legislation to end the man- esting, but sad, commentary, and the EPA enough to become the first to use dates for oxygenates which, by the Governor of California is coming here MTBE statewide even in areas not way, many scientists contend do noth- to testify, and almost all the Members mandated by the EPA. In doing so, ing to reduce air pollution from the of Congress from California are on the they also became the first State to face majority of cars on the road today. bill of the gentleman from California a water pollution problem we may all Fortunately, Mr. Speaker, my friends (Mr. BILBRAY), which is H.R. 11, and we face in this country all because the and colleagues, the gentleman from are going to be holding a hearing on EPA did not do its homework and still California (Mr. BILBRAY) and the gen- this bill. And let me just give my col- has not to this day. tleman from New Jersey (Mr. FRANKS) leagues, Mr. Speaker, a little bit of These are the facts: There are basi- have introduced corrective legislation. background on this because this shows cally two types of oxygenates: alcohol- Mr. BILBRAY has introduced H.R. 11 the unintended consequences some- based and ether-based. Alcohols are which the Committee on Commerce times of what we do here in Wash- generally used in the Midwest where will be holding a hearing on this Thurs- ington and what the EPA extends fur- they are produced, but since they can- day. H.R. 11 allows for California to use ther to do. not be shipped through pipelines be- alternative methods other than only So, if my colleagues will bear with cause they pick up water ethers, pri- using the oxygenates in gasoline. I ap- me, imagine a city suddenly faced with marily MTBE, are the only economi- plaud their efforts and encourage State contaminated drinking water. The cally feasible choices for the rest of the engagement rather than federal man- elected officials desperately search for country. dates. The bill of the gentleman from the responsible parties, they want ret- What the EPA apparently did not New Jersey (Mr. FRANKS), H.R. 1367, ribution and justice, they want their know back when their mandate went would effectively end the use of MTBE. b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H2555 . H2556 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð HOUSE May 4, 1999 Mr. Speaker, I strongly support both I think there will be fewer that will While the pressure was on as the of these bills, and I urge my colleagues have more of an impact than helping House debated the steel issue earlier to support them also. citizens sort out the right investments this year and overwhelmingly passed f and allowing them to be part of fram- H.R. 975, we saw steel imports begin to ing those solutions. come down in December 1998 and in TRANSPORTATION AND COMMU- The entire town meeting effort is an January and February of this year. But NITY SYSTEMS PRESERVATION illustration of what livable commu- as soon as the pressure let up with un- ACT nities are all about. It is not about certainty over the fate of this legisla- The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Federal interference, but partnership. tion in the other body, steel imports RADANOVICH). Under the Speaker's an- It is about giving people more choices shot up again in March. We saw a 25 nounced policy of January 19, 1999, the rather than fewer and that will end up percent increase in steel imports in gentleman from Oregon (Mr. costing people less money rather than March over the levels in February. BLUMENAUER) is recognized during more. The U.S. market continues to be the morning hour debates for 5 minutes. It is not the solutions for livable market of last resort for many export- Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, as communities that are pushing people ers. As markets overseas continue to someone who came to Congress because to the edge financially. It is the con- face economic turmoil, exporters con- I believe that Federal Government sequences of throwing money at prob- tinue to ship unprecedented levels of should do more to be a constructive lems in an unplanned way, problems steel into the United States, the partner with our communities to help that were first created by not carefully world's most open market. In order to promote livability, I could not be more planning and thinking about what we obtain hard currency, exporters have excited about developments that are are doing. sent the world's oversupply of steel to taking place this week in Detroit. I A country that can put a man on the the U.S., often at prices that bear no just left the conference, the town meet- moon and bring him back safely over 20 relation to the actual production costs. ing, on sustainable development where years ago does not have to build a gen- In March we also saw some imports there were over 3100 people from eration of failed infrastructure source and product switching, which around the country and more still reg- projects. It should not be illegal in all of us had feared. We saw an increase istering. It was not so much a wrap-up most of America for a clerk working in in imports of blooms, billets and slabs of the President's Council of Sustain- a drug store to live in an apartment and in hot rolled sheet from countries able Development, but rather a hand- above that drug store rather than hav- not subject to the current trade cases. off to citizen activists, students, busi- ing to have to commute every day. The The impacts of this steel import cri- ness, government, nongovernmental Federal Government should not pay sis cannot be overstated.