Date: June 21, 2010
Source: News Room
The Obama administration wants to reinstate the so-called Superfund tax known as a "polluter pays" tax. This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which rarely urges passage of specific bills, sent a letter to Congress in support of reinstating the taxes, first established 30 years ago to clean up sites around the country contaminated with hazardous waste. That money went into trust and reached a peak of $3.8 billion in 1996, but ran out in 2003, especially since the taxes expired in 1995 under the Bush administration. Only 19 sites were completed last year, compared to 89 in 1999. There are 1,279 sites on the list.
The move is likely to spark an intense battle on Capitol Hill between Democrats and oil companies and chemical manufacturers. Proponents argue that it eases the burden on taxpayers by funding the cleanup of "orphaned" sites, those where a responsible party is either insolvent or cannot be found, to the industry most responsible for the wastes. Opponents say it is an unfair penalty imposed at a particularly bad time in the economy. And, they see the timing of the measure as highly suspect against the backdrop of the BP oil spill in the gulf.
For their part, the chemical companies see it as unfairly targeting their sector. "We're somehow collateral damage in a political effort to go after the oil companies," said American Chemistry Council Vice President of Federal Affairs Walter Moore. But, for Lois Gibbs, founder of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, reinstating the tax will remedy a Superfund that has languished since its revenue dried up. She said the BP spill is proof that "we need funds to clean up this stuff."
EPA PRESS RELEASE:
EPA Supports Superfund "Polluter Pays" Provision / Agency submits administration's guidance to Congress
Release date: 06/21/2010
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today sent a letter to Congress in support of reinstating the lapsed Superfund "polluter pays" taxes. Superfund is the federal government's program that investigates and cleans up the nation's most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites. If reinstated, the Superfund provision would provide a stable, dedicated source of revenue for the program and increase the pace of Superfund cleanup. It would also ensure that parties who benefit from the manufacture or sale of substances that commonly cause environmental problems at hazardous waste sites, and not taxpayers, help bear the cost of cleanup when responsible parties cannot be identified.
"Since the beginning of this administration we have made it clear that we support the reinstatement of the polluter pays system for the Superfund program," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "Our taxes should be paying for teachers, police officers and infrastructure that is essential for sustainable growth -- not footing the bill for polluters. Today, we are formalizing our call to Congress to pass this important legislation and ensure responsible steps to keep our communities clean. In the meantime, EPA is taking action to better manage the Superfund program to increase cleanups and enhance transparency, accountability, and community input in agency decision-making."
The Superfund taxes expired on December 31, 1995. Since the expiration of the taxes, Superfund program funding has been largely financed from General Revenue transfers to the Superfund Trust Fund, thus burdening the taxpayer with the costs of cleaning up abandoned hazardous waste sites. The administration is proposing to reinstate the taxes as they were last in effect on crude oil, imported petroleum products, hazardous chemicals, and imported substances that use hazardous chemicals as a feedstock, and on corporate modified alternative minimum taxable income. Under the administration's proposal, the excise taxes and corporate environmental taxes would be reinstated for a period of 10 years beginning in January 2011.
More information on the Superfund program: www.epa.gov/superfund/.
Contact Information: Latisha Petteway, petteway.latisha@epa.gov, 202-564-3191, 202-564-4355.
PRESS RELEASE of Senator Lautenberg
Lautenberg Releases New Report Finding Massive Superfund Program Shortfall
Lautenberg's 'Polluter Pays' Legislation Supported by EPA, Would Expedite Cleanups
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. – At an Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee hearing he chaired today, U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) released a new report demonstrating that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not have adequate resources to clean up the more than 1,200 sites on the Superfund list. Lautenberg, the Chairman of the Senate EPW Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics, and Environmental Health, is the sponsor of legislation to reinstate the "polluter pays" fee on oil and chemical companies, which could generate over $1.3 billion in annual revenue for Superfund cleanups. In a letter sent yesterday to Congressional leaders, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson endorsed Lautenberg's proposal.
"This report gives us hard evidence that the EPA simply does not have the funding to clean up thousands of toxic sites plaguing our communities," Lautenberg said. "Our families, children and neighborhood businesses have been shouldering the pain and punishment of these blighted sites for too long. By restoring the polluter pays fee, we can create new jobs, protect public health, and revitalize communities. New Jersey has more Superfund sites than any other state in the nation and requiring polluters to pay will help make the Garden State a cleaner, healthier place to live and work."
Senator Lautenberg and EPW Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) requested the report released today by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report finds that the costs of cleaning up Superfund sites will range from $445 to $681 million per year for Fiscal Years 2010 to 2014, far exceeding the $220 to $267 million EPA allocated annually to long-term cleanups over the past decade. According to the GAO's findings, resources designated for Superfund cleanups, when adjusted for inflation, have decreased by 35 percent since the polluter pays fee expired in 1995.
A copy of the GAO report can be found here: lautenberg.senate.gov/assets/62210-GAO-Superfund.pdf.
Originally signed into law in 1980, Superfund is the federal program for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites. At the heart of the law is the commitment to ensure that the polluters and industries responsible for contamination, and not the general public, pay for the cleanup. The Superfund polluter fee expired in 1995, and the burden of funding the Superfund program shifted from polluters to taxpayers when the trust fund went bankrupt in 2003.
Lautenberg's "Polluter Pays Restoration Act" would reinstate the Superfund fee on oil and chemical companies as it existed prior to its expiration. Currently, taxpayers bear the financial burden of cleaning up sites where the parties responsible for the pollution cannot be found or no longer exist. Restoring this small fee on polluters will ease the burden on taxpayers, speed cleanup and revitalization of blighted properties, and create jobs. President Obama proposed reinstating the polluter pays fee in his FY2011 budget, which would generate over $1.3 billion in annual revenue.
The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Carl Levin (D-MI) and Patty Murray (D-WA).
Contact: Lautenberg Press Office (202) 224-3224.
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