Superfund, Shortchanged

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/23/opinion/23mon3.html?th

 

August 23, 2004

 

Superfund, Shortchanged

 

In 1995, Congress refused to reauthorize the corporate

taxes that underwrite Superfund, the federal program

enacted in 1980 to clean up toxic waste sites.

President Bill Clinton made only a feeble effort to

get the taxes reinstated, and President Bush hasn't

even done that. One of the nation's most successful

environmental programs is now wholly dependent on

general tax revenues appropriated by Congress. And

Congress shows no enthusiasm for giving the program

the money it needs.

 

John Dingell, the ranking Democrat on the House

committee that oversees the program, has discovered

that dozens of eligible Superfund sites will go

begging because of a $250 million shortfall in the

present fiscal year, which ends in six weeks. That's

on top of a $175 million shortfall last year. Things

are likely to get worse before they get better: a

House appropriations subcommittee recently rejected

the Environmental Protection Agency's request for an

extra $150 million for next year.

 

This would not have happened if Congress had been

faithful to the program's original principles, the

most important of which was that polluters should pay.

That principle has traditionally been enforced in two

ways. In cases where the company responsible for the

pollution could be clearly identified, that company

paid to clean it up. For sites whose ownership had

passed through several hands, or where the owner had

gone bankrupt, Congress established a special " orphan

fund " financed mainly by excise taxes on big polluters

like the oil and chemical industries. These are the

taxes that Congress allowed to expire in 1995.

 

The orphan fund is now dry, and the program is forced

to compete with every other domestic program at a time

when discretionary dollars are scarce. As a result,

cleanups languish. It is within Congress's power to

restore the program to financial health. Having let

principle go down the drain a decade ago, that seems

the least it can do.

 

 

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