Robert Menendez Confronts EPA Administrator Zeldin Over Proposed $250 Million Cut To Superfunds

8 months ago

During a House Energy Committee hearing last week, Rep. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) spoke about the Trump administration's proposed $250 million cut to the EPA's Superfund program.

Transcript

00:00Thank you very much. Gentle lady yields back. Now recognize the gentleman from New Jersey,

00:05Mr. Menendez, for five minutes. Thank you, Chairman. As many others have emphasized today,

00:10the EPA's main purpose, as established by Congress, is to protect the environment and public health.

00:15Today, I want to talk to you about the importance of managing contaminated sites. As you may know,

00:20New Jersey's industrial legacy presents environmental challenges in our communities.

00:25That is why the Brownfields program is particularly important in my district.

00:28Just a few weeks ago, this committee held a bipartisan hearing on its successes,

00:34and Mayor Bullage from the city of Elizabeth testified to the program's importance. Elizabeth

00:39leveraged Brownfield's funding to convert formerly contaminated sites into affordable housing

00:44and other projects that enhance community well-being and economic development. And we heard

00:50from Republican witnesses at that hearing that this program has a significant return on investment.

00:55For every federal dollar spent, there's an average $20 return in economic activity. So we're really

01:02proud of the work that Elizabeth has done, and all my colleagues here have success stories from their

01:08districts as well. So, Mr. Zeldin, yes or no, given the success of and biased partisan support for the

01:14Brownfields program, can you commit to this committee that it will not be impacted by budget cuts?

01:19Well, ultimately, the funding level is going to be something that's decided between Congress and the

01:27administration. The Brownfields program, as you point out, is a very amazing, great, successful

01:33program that should be a source of strong bipartisan support and pride and success stories all across

01:41America are overwhelming. Correct. And it is a bipartisan success story that, as we heard in that hearing,

01:47so many good projects across the country. So funding's part one. Part two, again, yes or no,

01:53can you commit to me that the program staff will be maintained as it is a bipartisan priority for this

02:00committee? You said the program staff? That's correct. Yeah, it is important to make sure that the

02:06Brownfields program is fully staffed to be able to extraordinarily accomplish its mission. Okay. And

02:15while I hope that's true, I'm concerned about some recent EPA actions. My office has heard from Groundwork

02:21Elizabeth, a nonprofit promoting environmental resilience, education, and youth leadership in

02:26Elizabeth, that a $500,000 Brownfields grant was paused without clarity on when that it might be

02:33reinstated. That was a job training grant to help students access stable, good-paying environmental work

02:39while also giving back to their community. And we've heard numerous stories about grant cancellations

02:44at other EPA programs, in addition to the ongoing layoffs of staff at EPA who provide technical

02:50assistance across EPA programs. So while we're addressing industrial pollution, I'd like to discuss

02:56the Superfund program. There are over 100 of those sites in New Jersey, including six in the district

03:01that I represent. My constituents in the Ironbound section of Newark live near a former factory that

03:06manufactured 700,000 gallons of Agent Orange and reportedly dumped bad batches directly into the

03:13Passaic River. Ensuring that sites like this one are robustly monitored, managed, and remediated is

03:19integral to the well-being of families in my district and a priority for me and the people that I

03:24represent. That's why I'm profoundly concerned that you are proposing to cut Superfund's budget by over

03:29250 million dollars. So my question to you is, for a family that lives in the Ironbound section in

03:37close proximity to a Superfund site, what would you say to a mother who is concerned for her family's

03:43health and well-being to justify why you are cutting funding that could protect her children

03:49from carcinogens and other health risks associated with contaminated sites?

03:53Well, with regards to Superfund, which is another very successful, important program, I've had the

04:00opportunity to visit Superfund sites inside of New Jersey since becoming administrator, and I look

04:06forward to coming back. Our goal is to be able to successfully delist all or parts of these sites.

04:13As it relates to your question, Congress imposed large taxes in the IIJA and the IRA to finance the

04:21Superfund program. As it says inside of the skinny budget, between these $1.6 billion in taxes estimated

04:28to be available in 2026 and litigation recoveries from responsible parties, that is why there is a

04:35need for an additional funding for the Superfund cleanup as reflected in the skinny budget.

04:39Correct. But those funds were intended to supplement and accelerate Superfund remediation, right? Because

04:45what I always talk about is today there are families living near these Superfund sites, right? They don't

04:49have the luxury of waiting. And so we need to do this work as quickly as possible. But between the funding

04:54cuts and staffing cuts, we're concerned that the work is not going to get done in a timely manner or as

04:59fast as it could if we had a whole of government approach. And that's what

05:02is being done in a timely manner. And we're going to be doing this job. And that's why we're going to make a

05:04odar. And that's how we are going to get done in a timely manner. And that's how we keep up with a

05:17steady job. And we're going to have a steady job for this work. And that's how we're going to get a

Robert Menendez Confronts EPA Administrator Zeldin Over Proposed $250 Million Cut To Superfunds

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