In Episode VII, we continue our survey of the legislative history of the Comprehensive Emergency Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.

Moving into 1980, efforts by Congress and the Carter Administration to pass a comprehensive emergency response law to address toxic waste pollution enters a new phase of desperation.

Seeing current legislative proposals stall before committee, Representative James Florio of New Jersey introduces House Resolution 7020, a streamlined and modest attempt to identify and remediate abandoned toxic waste sites.

While the bill gains traction in the House, the pollution debate and the case for a Superfund program receive a major boost when the nation learns of the devastating contamination that has befell the community of Woburn, Massachusetts.