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Eco-logue is published bimonthly by the Rochester Regional Group of the Sierra Club * Join the Rochester Group by Printing out our Brochure & sending it to us.
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Superfund Cuts Leave Communities with Toxic Waste and Taxpayers with the Bill Washington, DC: The Sierra Club today expressed deep concern that the Bush Administration's plan to slash the Superfund cleanup program could leave dozens of communities exposed to dangerous toxic waste, and allow the polluters off the hook. In addition to eliminating cleanup funding completely at 33 sites, as reported in today's New York Times, the Bush Administration is reducing funding at another 15 sites, which will slow the pace of cleanup there. The lists of sites appear at the end of this release. "Superfund cleanups are already running on fumes and if the Bush
administration has its way, the program will be completely out of gas," said
Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. "The More than 1,200 toxic sites that have not yet been cleaned up remain on the EPA's National Priority List of sites, and according to a study Congress commissioned from Resources for the Future, an estimated 23 to 49 new toxic sites could be added to the list each year. The original 'polluter pays' funding mechanism that Congress enacted to pay for the Superfund program expired in 1995. The money accumulated in the Superfund Trust Fund has diminished greatly since then, and Superfund is expected to run out of money by 2004. As a result, individual taxpayers have been picking up more of the costs of the program. In 1995 taxpayers paid about 18 percent of program costs; in 2003 they will pay 54 percent of the costs. The pace of completed cleanups has slowed dramatically in recent years. The EPA completed construction on only 47 sites in 2001, less than the 75 it had projected and far less than the 87 achieved in 2000. The rate of cleanups will continue to decline in the future unless Congress acts to increase funding. This cleanup slowdown comes just as the Superfund funding should be reaching its peak, according to projections made in a 2001 report requested by Congress. That report, conducted under EPA contract by Resources for the Future, estimates that funding needs for FY 2000 through FY 2009 could range from $15.6 billion to $18.3 billion. The 'polluter pays' mechanism, which expired in 1995, was supported by every President since it's inception, including President George H.W. Bush. But now, President George W. Bush opposes funding mechanism. The Sierra Club supports legislation in the House and Senate that would reinstate the polluter pays program. "We applaud those members of Congress, including Senators Barbara Boxer and
Lincoln Chafee and Representative Frank Pallone, who have introduced legislation
to reinstate the same 'polluter pays' funding program that Congress authorized
in 1986," said Pope. "We urge Congress to pass this legislation to help
communities who have been living too long with toxic waste." 33 Sites Receiving No Funding in FY 2002 --- Source: US EPA Inspector General Report (06/24/02) # NPL Site State 1 Vasquez Boulevard and I-70 CO Sites Getting Some But Not All of Its Requested Funding in FY 2002 # NPL Site State 1 San Gabriel Valley (Area 1) CA
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