Reps. Rick Taylor (D-Montgomery) and Mike Vereb (R-Montgomery) this week announced their joint introduction of a bill that would provide $30 million for the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund to keep removing pollutants from old industrial sites.

Under the bill—House Bill 1810-- would receive revenue from money slated to be transferred to the Rainy Day Fund to keep it available through the end of the 2007-08 fiscal year in June and give the General Assembly time to provide a new, stable source of funding for the cleanup program.

"The Hazardous Site Cleanup Fund gives Pennsylvania the versatility to respond without delay to incidents where hazardous materials or toxic chemicals endanger public health and safety," said Rep. Taylor. "Its other critically important facets include funding for investigation of illegal hazardous waste dumping and dangerous methamphetamine labs, along with cleaning and recycling contaminated industrial land known as brownfields."

The legislation proposed by Taylor and Vereb grew out of a successful bipartisan challenge in the House to a Senate proposal in July that would have taken money for HSCA out of other environmental programs, which would have greatly hampered efforts such as the Keystone Recreation Park and Conservation Fund and other environmental initiatives. As the attempted fiscal raid was turned aside, Taylor said he would pursue other legislative options to provide the cleanup funding.

The new proposal has attracted many co-sponsors from both parties, a big plus for expediting the bill through the legislative process.

"I am thrilled to be a partner in this critical legislation," said Rep. Vereb. "This would keep hazardous site cleanup operations running without interruption.

"Representative Taylor and I have sites in our districts that are in need of this continued funding, and any interruption could be harmful to our communities. But I also think our partnership on this issue shows the rest of Pennsylvania that Republicans and Democrats can indeed work together on issues that are so important to our communities and environment."

The bill is expected to be referred to the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee for consideration.

NewsClip: Lawmakers Seek $30 M for Environmental Cleanup

Link: Senators Pileggi, White Propose Solution to Hazardous Sites Cleanup Funding

Governor Proposes Waste Fee Increases for Hazardous Sites Funding

9/22/2007