Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1056 - Federal Facilities Compliance Act

(House)
(Eckart (D) Ohio)

The Administration strongly supports Federal facility compliance with environmental statutes, and has initiated a comprehensive effort to manage wastes properly and to clean up environmental problems at Federal facilities. For example, the Department of Energy recently announced a 10-point program to ensure that compliance agreements are developed for all sites, remedial feasibility studies are initiated, and clean up actions are assigned priority on a worst-case-first basis.

The Administration believes that further administrative and legislative actions may be necessary to enhance this effort, and plans to make specific recommendations in the near future.

However, the Administration opposes enactment of H.R. 1056, which is a piecemeal measure that would not result in more timely or effective compliance. Instead, this bill could delay ongoing Federal efforts to bring Federal facilities into compliance.

Rather than facilitating the development and implementation of compliance plans and programs at Federal faciities, H.R. 1056 would erroneously focus on the use of penalties and sanctions as the solution. The bill would waive Federal sovereign immunity and allow States to assess administrative and judicial civil penalties against Federal facilities for failure to undertake corrective actions. These penalties could be assessed without regard to whether Congress has appropriated sufficient funds to undertake necessary compliance actions. The bill would also seriously circumvent the Federal Government's ability to set worst-case^-f irst cleanup priorities on the basis of health and environmental need. Rather, it would force Federal agencies to assign highest priority to States that threaten to impose penalties and fines. Further, allowing States to impose monetary penalties could result in already scarce Federal funds being transferred to States, leaving Federal agencies with less funds for cleanup.