The Obama Administration has declared national support for another of Congressman Blumenauer’s signature priorities: reinstating the Superfund. Reviving this program will hold polluters accountable, restore the environment, and create new jobs in engineering, construction, and development.

The Superfund is a federal program that investigates and cleans up the nation’s hazardous waste sites. The fees financing the Superfund expired in 1995, though the program has continued to clean up these sites with taxpayer dollars. However, lack of funding has slowed down the pace of cleanups. In order to avoid what Congressman Blumenauer has described as a cycle of “stall, study, and sue,” the fees need to be reinstated.

It has been said that the last ten years were a lost decade: from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to the disastrous Iraq War to the financial meltdown that continues to bedevil us today. It is true that the past ten years did very little to move us forward and in many ways, put us more at risk. But rather than rehash the actions of the past, we can acknowledge that we haven’t any more time to waste. It’s time to move forward.

This is our decade of decision; a decade where we unite behind a new vision, extract more value from what we do, deal with the tradeoffs head-on, and dedicate ourselves to making things happen. Earl Blumenauer is committed to calling this question in every facet of his work this year; he is committed to working with all Oregonians to make this our Decade of Decision.