Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today announced $625,000 in federal grants have been awarded to aid revitalization efforts at brownfield sites in Aiken, Charleston, Spartanburg, and Jackson. The Brownfields Grants help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use. The funds are used to help communities evaluate the environmental contamination of brownfield sites. Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Grants announced today include: Aiken County Aiken County will receive $200,000 to conduct community outreach, perform site assessments, conduct health monitoring activities for surrounding communities, and develop cleanup and reuse plans at a 22-acre abandoned, burned textile mill property. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control will receive $25,000 assess a former service station site and conduct community outreach in the Town of Jackson. The site has five old underground storage tanks that do not meet regulatory standards. Charleston The City of Charleston will receive $200,000 to inventory sites with potential petroleum contamination in the city’s Renewal Community, conduct community outreach activities, conduct assessments, perform health monitoring in surrounding communities, and plan cleanup and remediation at two sites. Spartanburg Regenesis, Inc. will receive $100,000 to clean up the 30-acre North Street Dump Site at 971 S. Liberty Street. This largely vacant site with elevated polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon contamination has been used for mill storage and casual dumping. In addition, Regenesis will receive $100,000 to clean up leaks from inactive underground storage tanks at the 3-acre Arkwright Mills Site, which was an operating textile mill until 1979. “Revitalizing these sites and converting them to commercially viable properties is a great investment in future economic development,” said Graham. “In addition, it provides for a cleaner environment and eliminates public health risks.” The grants were awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. ####

Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made the following statement on a new report by the Congressional Budget Office regarding the future of Social Security. “The new report released by CBO today confirms the findings of the last 17 annual reports of the Social Security Trustees: Social Security as it is currently structured is insolvent and unsustainable. While the differences in the estimates should be fully studied by economists and actuaries, they are not an excuse to delay strengthening Social Security. “Every Social Security expert agrees that future generations will face a severe gap between the benefits Social Security owes, and the payroll taxes coming in to fund them. Even with the more optimistic assumptions used by the CBO, the long term deficits facing Social Security do not go away. “The simple fact remains that the number of workers supporting each retiree has dropped from 15-to-1 in 1950 to 3-to-1 today. Within a generation there will only be two workers supporting each retiree. “The forces that are stopping honest reform from going forward are intellectual dishonesty and lack of political courage. No matter how hard we try to ignore the warnings from a countless number of policy experts we won’t fix the problem until we roll up our sleeves and get to work.” ####

Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made the following statement on the passing of former President Ronald Reagan. He said: "President Reagan had the ability to see the world as it should be and accomplished much to bring that vision about. He was the most gifted spokesman, in my lifetime, in describing what America was meant to be. "The soundbite in history of Ronald Reagan will be his speech in front of the Berlin Wall challenging the Soviet Union's communist regime to tear down the wall so freedom could pass through. "President Reagan's shining city on the Hill speech describing who we are as a nation will be a guide for future generations of political leaders. Those smart enough to follow will be well remembered and appreciated by the American people just like Ronald Reagan. "He achieved great power and unbelievable political success without losing the human decency that we all remember and admire. His was a life well-lived." #####

Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

WASHINGTON – Efforts to cleanup the millions of gallons of nuclear waste stored in aging tanks at the Savannah River Site were given a boost today when the U.S. Senate rejected an amendment by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Fritz Hollings (D-SC) to strip the cleanup provision from the defense authorization bill. The vote was 48-48. To pass, the Cantwell-Hollings amendment needed a majority vote. Under the provision, accelerated cleanup efforts to remove the more than 37 million gallons of liquid waste at the Site, which have been on hold for almost a year, would be allowed to again move forward. Ninety-nine percent of the waste would be removed from the tanks and turned into glass logs for eventual shipment to the permanent long-term storage site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Some residual waste, less than two inches deep, will remain in the tank and be mixed with concrete and grout. Removal of this material is impractical and poses dangers to worker safety. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) would be given “veto” power over residual waste left in the tank and would determine when the tank is clean enough to be closed. “This is a big day for environmental cleanup in South Carolina,” said Graham. “The agreement between the state and the Department of Energy, now approved by the U.S. Senate, ensures the tanks will be cleaned up in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective manner.” “Because of this agreement, we’re looking to do it 23 years ahead of schedule and at a cost savings to the taxpayer of almost $16 billion,” said Graham. “It is a good plan for the Site, state, and the nation.” Graham noted the cleanup provision was supported by Governor Mark Sanford, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), Attorney General Henry McMaster, Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives David Wilkins, Democrats and Republicans in the Aiken County legislative delegation, the mayor of Aiken, the chairman of the Aiken County Council, the mayor of Jackson, the SRS Retiree Association, and local Chambers of Commerce. “The cleanup efforts at the Site have been at a virtual standstill,” said Graham. “It’s long past time we get the cleanup efforts moving forward again to protect our environment. Every day we delay just increases the risk to the local community and the Savannah River that these tanks, some of them fifty years old, will leak and create even greater problems down the road.” “I’m very pleased the Governor and state officials came together to allow the site to be cleaned up decades earlier than expected,” said Graham. “Governor Sanford deserves much credit for allowing new ideas that make environmental and economic sense to become reality in spite of special interest demagoguery. He is a thoughtful and courageous political leader.” After the Senate gives final approval to the defense authorization bill it will go to conference with the House of Representatives. “I will continue to fight in the House-Senate conference to ensure this provision becomes law,” said Graham. “We’ve come too far in our efforts to clean up the Site, using good science and sound economics, to be deterred by special interest politics.” #####