Today I must ask whether we are engaged in a political exercise, or a serious or competent attempt to legislate. Why do I say that? Maybe it is because we did not have a markup vehicle until late Friday. Maybe it is because the decision to hold this hasty markup brought to a premature end promising discussions between Mr. Greenwood and Mr. Towns on targeted, bipartisan reform. Maybe it is because this hasty markup, according to press accounts, was essentially ordered by the Republican Leadership.

What is at stake here? What is being put at risk by this ill-considered rush to produce a bill? The Republican Leadership is fumbling, or purposely undermining, an opportunity to strengthen brownfields revitalization, codify successful EPA reforms, and make targeted changes -- all on a bipartisan basis. Is this a last-ditch effort by those who have fought this program from day one to make the world safer for toxic wastes, but less safe for our citizens? Do those who seek to undermine this program think that memories of toxic waste dumps, and the historical inability of states to clean them up, have faded?

The Superfund program limped badly at its beginning under the Reagan Administration, but survived the outright hostility of Republican political appointees. Under the Bush Administration, the final regulations that the program operates under did not take effect until 1990. But it has been reformed and revitalized under the Clinton Administration. More than one-half (54%) of the non-federal sites have now completed all cleanup construction. The General Accounting Office recently reported that, for the approximately 600 sites that remain, two-thirds of the actual cleanup work has been completed or underway. The Chamber of Commerce agrees that the highest priority sites are expected to be returned to environmental health in three to five years. Superfund is now a program that is nearing completion with the successful cleanup of hundreds of unsafe sites. It has also honored the "polluter pays" principle, saving taxpayers billions of dollars.

Now comes a so-called "reform" effort, that seeks to take important environmental protections as hostages to reinstatement of the polluter taxes that the Majority has let lapse. That is not acceptable. Targeted reforms can be enacted, without significant cost shifting to either industry or taxpayers. We can examine carefully what the expected revenue needs will be as the program ramps down. But it would be unwise and counterproductive to weaken protections at this late date. It would also be unwise to slap substantial taxes on industry without a better sense of what this program will look like in a few years.