Under the Bush Administration, the funding and pace of Superfund hazardous waste cleanups across the country has been cut in half.  In 2003, the EPA Inspector General reported that a $174.9 million shortfall in the Superfund program prevented EPA from beginning cleanups at 11 Superfund sites and slowed the cleanup of at least 29 other contaminated sites in 17 states during fiscal year 2003.  This leaves 1,203 hazardous sites still unclean, and the list keeps growing.   In 2003 alone, another dozen sites were added to the priority list.   Only 40 Superfund cleanups were completed last year, compared to an average of 86 per year throughout the mid- to late 1990s.

Not so "Super" anymore.

Bush Administration officials tried to explain the slowdown as due to the increased size and complexity of the contaminated sites; however, the main reason was lack of funding. 

The Superfund program went bankrupt last fall, in October 2003, yet the Bush Administration continues to oppose congressional attempts to reinstate the corporate surcharge on oil and chemical feedstocks that had long funded the program.   Though the tax was clearly appropriate, given that most hazardous wastes involve oil and chemical wastes, the tax was allowed to expire in 1995 when Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives.  This means that all current and future Superfund monies are coming from general taxpayer funds. 

The Bush Administration and Republican congress members oppose the "polluter pays" principle that was a key underlying value of the prior Superfund program.   They want the general public to pay to clean up industry mistakes, after already paying in terms of severe health risks, reduced property values, damaged local economies, and lowered quality of life.

The trust fund generated by the surcharge fell from a high of $3.8 billion in 1996 to approximately $28 million in 2003, for the entire country.   (Compare this with just one project - our local Fox River cleanup - which is expected to cost approximately $400 million.)   Current funding is entirely from public tax contributions, but at roughly half the annual budget of previous administrations. The Superfund program does not have the resources needed to get the job done.
How Should Superfund Work?

The Superfund, first established in 1980, was supposed to be a revolving fund that initiated site studies, and designed and funded actual cleanups.   It was supposed to jumpstart cleanups, and not wait for all the legal liabilities to be sorted out in negotiations or legal actions with the responsible polluters.   It was supposed to protect public health first and foremost.  Where liabilities were found, the polluters were expected to reimburse the fund for the full costs of the cleanups.  Where liabilities couldn't be assigned, or in the case of bankrupt polluters, the Superfund covered the full cleanup cost.  Unfortunately, the majority of sites are in these two categories, which means that at most of the 1,203 sites nationwide, the fund won't be replenished or reimbursed.   With today's severe funding problems, the enforcement and cleanup pace has slowed drastically.

Hazardous waste sites are public health threats which should be addressed promptly by our governments, yet all attention and funding seems diverted now to controlling terrorists.  The Bush Administration is ignoring the thousands of victims across this country who are terrorized and sickened by their local hazardous waste sites.  In most cases, these taxpayers have waited years for the government to take their issues seriously.

Local Implications

Here on the Fox River and Green Bay, we've seen a dramatic slow-down in PCB cleanup progress since Bush took control of the White House.   In the late 1990s, the federal EPA had been our champion, stepping in to force action when our state government failed to act. But this has changed.   The EPA has retreated again, allowing the state to take the lead at a snail's pace.  Because the Superfund is dry, government negotiations with the paper industry have been more difficult.   The agencies can't rely on Superfund to start the river cleanup, so they're reduced to begging the polluters to provide the necessary money.  Their bargaining position is severely weakened.

As a result, we've seen a series of hyped news conferences announcing pitiful settlements to fund pieces of the Fox River cleanup.   A recent settlement will provide funds to START designing the cleanup for the last 7 miles of the river, with actual cleanup delayed another 3 years.   We've already waited 32 years for action, since the discovery of the PCB contamination in 1972.

Because beggars can't be choosers, the government negotiators are making major concessions to the polluters: 

• Though the agencies had adamantly opposed capping PCB sediments in place, their position has been reversed and they are now allowing the polluters to design a cleanup with caps. 

• Though the agencies’ own risk assessments showed that a 0.25 ppm PCB sediment cleanup was necessary to achieve the lower average in the system needed to protect public health and wildlife, they compromised this as well, setting a target 4 times weaker, and 90 times higher than the fully healthy standard. 

• On the compensation side, the government appear to be settling for "10 cents on the dollar" from the polluters, making a mockery of the Natural Resources Damage Assessment which had been so carefully crafted under the Clinton Administration.

Clean Water Action Council 
1270 Main Street, Suite 120, Green Bay, WI 54302 
Phone: 920-437-7304   CleanWater@cwac.net

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