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Version $5.8 billion
The Superfund program is backed up by revenue from a trust fund, which is tapped for cleanups when the government cannot identify the responsible parties or when the responsible parties refuse to pay. Superfund's "polluter pays" fees include those levied on corporations and fees on the purchase of chemical and petroleum products. The fees generated $1.5-$2 billion annually for cleanups, and the trust fund reached a high of $3.6 billion in 1995. Unfortunately, in the same year, the Superfund fee system lapsed, and Congress has failed to reinstate it. The trust fund is now dwindling, more of the cleanup burden is falling on taxpayers' shoulders, and the pace of cleanups has declined dramatically. Green Scissors Proposal Make those associated with potentially polluting industries and those purchasing and using toxic chemicals - not taxpayers - pay to clean up toxic waste sites. Reinstating a Superfund fee system will help ensure the burden of cleanup does not fall where it is least appropriate: on average taxpayers. Reinstating the Superfund fee will raise $5.8 billion over the next five years. Current Status The administration has failed to request reinstatement of Superfund's fee system for three years running. In the summer and fall of 2002, Senator Jeffords (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote to the administration requesting a list of sites impacted by the failure to reinstate the fees. The ensuing EPA Inspector General's report showed that in fiscal year 2002, 55 Superfund sites in 25 states received partial or no funding. In its 2004 budget request, the administration requested $1.39 billion for the Superfund program, expecting taxpayers to shoulder approximately 80 percent of program costs. In contrast, the last year before the Superfund fee system expired, taxpayers paid only 18 percent of program costs. There are bills in both the House and Senate to reinstate Superfund's fee system. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), and Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) offered an amendment to the fiscal year 2004 budget resolution to reinstate Superfund fees. The amendment failed 43 to 56. Project Hurts Taxpayers Taxpayers should not have to clean up toxic waste sites created by private industries. Superfund seeks to ensure that polluters responsible for environmental degradation pay for site cleanup costs. Without reinstatement of the Superfund fees, the billions necessary to cleanup toxic sites will come from taxpayers, while industry shirks its responsibilities. Industry has avoided paying about $4 million a day, totaling over $10 billion since the Superfund fees expired in 1995. Failure to reinstate Superfund fees would give big petroleum corporations a double taxpayer-funded subsidy. Congress authorized a per-barrel petroleum tax as part of the Superfund fees, but in return exempted oil companies from liability under the Superfund law. Unless Congress reinstates the fees on petroleum products, these big oil companies will continue to be exempt from liability and cleanup costs. Project Hurts The Environment One out of four people in America lives within four miles of a Superfund site. Eighty-five percent of all Superfund sites involve groundwater contamination. Fifty percent of the population - and virtually 100 percent in rural areas - use groundwater for drinking water. According to a study by the State of California, children born within a quarter mile of a toxic waste site are at a higher risk of heart defects and neurological problems. The pace of cleanups has declined dramatically. During the final four years of the Clinton administration, an average of 85 contaminated sites were cleaned up annually. In the first three years of the Bush administration, an average of only 43 Superfund sites will be cleaned up per year; a decrease of nearly 50 percent. As a result, more toxic sites will languish while waiting for adequate funding for cleanup. Other environmental programs may pay the price. With less money available from the Superfund trust fund, an increasing share of cleanups is paid for with general revenue. The higher the taxpayer share climbs, the more Superfund will be forced to compete with other critical environmental programs for funding, especially in a time of budgetary belt-tightening. Contact Julie Wolk, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, (202) 546-9707 Sara Zdeb, Friends of the Earth, (202) 783-7400 x220 Aileen Roder, Taxpayers for Common Sense, (202) 546-8500 x130 Wesley Warren, Natural Resources Defense Council, (202) 289-6868 |
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