Why Have a DCED?
Billy Givens

<DIR>Before Commonwealth Court ruled to the contrary, proposed bonds went to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) for approval. The court has now ruled that the Department lacks approval authority.<BR><BR><DIR>Why then even have a DCED? The bond's cost estimates can't be accurate. No one can tell what the cost of developing the Bethlehem Steel site will be. Innocent third-party liability makes it impossible. U.S. Senate Bill S-350 helps toward more reliable or realistic cost estimates, but that bill still hasn't been approved by the House of Representatives, and no one knows when that may happen. Meanwhile, any cost estimates by the state of Pennsylvania are subject to disapproval by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We should try to scare bond counsel Raymond James off offering the bond before our Congressional Representive in the House, Pat Toomey, has had an opportunity to advise us on this stalled legislation. The House's failure to act on S-350 is tantamount to a circumvention of existing Superfund legislation. Until the House approves S-350, the Bethlehem Steel site in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, cannot be disposed of: no Memorandum of Understanding with the Steel is possible, no certification of a remediated site, free of environmental pollution, is possible.

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