by Kevin McCarty
July 23, 2001

Elizabeth (NJ) Mayor J. Christian Bollwage told a House Subcommittee June 28 that, "I want to deliver one message on behalf of the nation's mayors and this is: we need prompt bipartisan action on brownfields legislation. While we can engage in discussion about how to craft specific provisions of the legislation, and debate both substantive and technical changes, the overriding issue is how we come to a broad bipartisan agreement on this legislation."

"The nation's mayors urge you to craft a bipartisan agreement on brownfields. This has been and continues to be the central tenet of the Conference's policy on brownfields legislation," Bollwage told the panel.

Bollwage carried the mayors' message to the House Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials just two days after the Conference's 69th Annual Meeting in Detroit where the membership adopted a new policy statement calling for bipartisan House action on brownfields legislation.

Pass S. 350, Absent Bipartisan Agreement

Bollwage detailed the mayors' position on the pending legislation. "The message of this policy statement is bipartisanship. In this statement, the mayors call upon the House Leadership of both parties to come together to Ôcraft a bipartisan agreement and to do so promptly.' The mayors also call upon President Bush Ôto request House Leaders to seek prompt bipartisan action.' Finally, the mayors urge the House of Representatives to Ôadopt the Senate-passed legislation (S. 350), if ongoing House efforts fail to develop a timely and broad bipartisan agreement on brownfields legislation,'" he said.

Following the Senate's 99-0 vote in late April approving S. 350, legislation which was supported by the Conference, the Bush Administration and others, House Committee leaders during the intervening three months have yet to come together on a bipartisan approach to move this Conference priority forward.

At the hearing, Bollwage joined with other witnesses before the House panel, which is chaired by Representative Paul E. Gillmor (OH), to discuss three pending brownfields bills — S. 350, a Chairman's discussion draft and a Democratic discussion draft. "Our (mayors) position provides you with the opportunity to work cooperatively in crafting a bipartisan agreement. Failing to generate such an agreement in a timely manner, the mayors would urge you to simply move forward with the Senate-passed legislation, S. 350," he said.

Conference's Efforts Noted

Reflecting on the history of the Conference's efforts on this legislation, Bollwage noted that, "enactment of bipartisan brownfields legislation has been among the Conference's top priorities for several years. In fact, this is now our third Congress where we have been urging bipartisan Congressional action on this legislation." He further emphasized to the panel members that, "at no time, Mr. Chairman, has the Conference of Mayors endorsed or supported a partisan legislative proposal on these matters."

"In this Congress, the decision has been made, and rightly so, to move a brownfields only bill, a position strongly advanced by President Bush and Governor Christine Todd Whitman in their support of S. 350," he said. In the 105th and 106th Congress, the Conference worked with Representative Sherwood Boehlert (NY) and others to press for bipartisan legislation on brownfields and provisions dealing with selected Superfund reforms. Legislative proposals dealing with broader Superfund reforms will now move on a separate track from brownfields.

On the key issues of funding, liability, finality and definitional issues, Bollwage said that "the Senate found ways to reach broad agreements on these issues É We urge this panel to work in the same spirit as the Senate and work to reach similar broad bipartisan agreements to allow this legislation to move forward. The technical nuances of one provision over another will matter little, at the end of the day, if you can't reach a bipartisan agreement."

In concluding his testimony, Bollwage said, "I want to further underscore the call of the nation's mayors for bipartisan action on brownfields legislation. Bipartisan action is a formula that works."

At the hearing, Bollwage joined with representatives of the National Association of Attorney Generals, National Conference of State Legislatures, and National Association of Counties, which was represented by its president-elect and Santa Fe County (NM) Commissioner Javier M. Gonzales.

Senate Leader Wants Agreement by Summer