Toxics

Toxic Soup
Superfund was created by Congress in 1980 to clean toxic and hazardous waste sites.  Over the past 25 years, more than 300 toxic sites have been permanently remedied and removed from the National Priorities List (NPL), the list of the most toxic sites in the nation, and over 7,000 sites have been addressed and stabilized.  But there is still significant work to do.  One in four people in America, including ten million children, still live within four miles of a Superfund site.  In addition, on top of the 1,000 active Superfund sites that remain on the National Priorities list and the hundreds of thousands of toxic sites that remain unlisted, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast and left the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the monumental challenge of cleaning up the toxic pollution left behind. 

 

Polluter Pays

Superfund operates under the guiding principle that polluters should pay to clean up the messes they created.  When no one responsible for the pollution problem is available to clean up their mess, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) steps in, paying for the cleanup through the Superfund Trust Fund.  Historically, Superfund has been funded by a fee charged to polluting industries such as chemical manufacturers and oil and gas companies.   However, the fee expired in 1996 and the trust fund has been exhausted.  This has resulted in a dramatic slowing of cleanups across the nation at a time when it is most needed.  The number of cleanups completed annually has fallen from an average of 77 sites each year in the 1990s to only 40 sites a year.

 

Possible Action

Since the "polluter pays" mechanism expired in 1995, polluters have enjoyed a $4 million a day tax break and Superfund's reserves are now completely depleted. So who pays for the cleanup now?  We do.  Since 2004, Superfund has been funded 100% by taxpayers, compared to only 18% of funds coming from taxpayers in 1996.

Reinstating polluter pays fees would shift the tax burden of paying to clean up sites from taxpayers back to polluting industries, and increase funds available for other important environmental programs.   Senator Boxer, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has identified Superfund as a priority.