In order to gain some perspective about this project and blog it is necessary to understand the history of CERCLA and Superfund. How and why it came to be needed and what it is meant to accomplish.
C.E.R.C.L.A or the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act was developed and enacted on December, 1980 for the purpose of taxing chemical and petroleum industries to create a Superfund for environmental clean up. Approximately $1.6 billion was collected from this tax in five years. The money has been put aside and used for hazardous waste sites that are not controlled or have been abandoned. This is also more commonly known as the Superfund.
SUPERFUND
The 1978 discovery of toxic chemicals beneath the suburban infrastructure of Love Canal, in Niagara Falls, New York first illuminated the consequences of environmental neglect. For decades, many American businesses had disposed of hazardous waste improperly, contaminating tens of thousands of sites nationally, including nearly 250 within Region 2 (New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and Eight Tribal Nations.) alone. Accidents, spills, and leaks of hazardous materials resulted in land, water, and air that pose immediate and potential threats to public and environmental health.
Citizen reaction to these localized threats led Congress to establish the Superfund Program in 1980, an initiative designed to locate, investigate, and clean up the most hazardous sites nationwide. Superfund is officially called CERCLA, or the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. The EPA administers the Superfund Program in cooperation with individual states and tribal governments.
The national EPA office that oversees management of the program is the Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (OSRTI). The sites dealt with under Superfund are listed on the NPL, or National Priorities List. Superfund constitutes a crucial environmental and economic precedent within American legislative history.
CERCLA Overview
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, was enacted by Congress on December 11, 1980. This law created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment. Over five years, $1.6 billion was collected and the tax went to a trust fund for cleaning up abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.
CERCLA:
- established prohibitions and requirements concerning closed and abandoned hazardous waste sites;
- provided for liability of persons responsible for releases of hazardous waste at these sites; and
- established a trust fund to provide for cleanup when no responsible party could be identified.
- Short-term removals, where actions may be taken to address releases or threatened releases requiring prompt response.
- Long-term remedial response actions, that permanently and significantly reduce the dangers associated with releases or threats of releases of hazardous substances that are serious, but not immediately life threatening. These actions can be conducted only at sites listed on EPA's National Priorities List (NPL).
CERCLA was amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) on October 17, 1986.
U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Code - Title 42
* Information taken from US EPA http://www.epa.gov/
The Superfund Today
While researching information about CERCLA-Superfund, I wondered exactly how much money remained in the Superfund program...only to discover that all the accumulated funding has been used up and there no longer is a mandate or process to re-establish funding for Superfund. I found that Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore) is proposing legislation to reinstate the "polluters fee" and fund Superfund sites cleanup. It is also supported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In a letter dated 06/21/2010 the EPA petitioned Congress to support of reinstating the lapsed Superfund “polluter pays” taxes.
What are the taxes that supported the Superfund?
Until they expired in 1995, there were three taxes that levied funding for the program.
- A petroleum tax of 9.7 cents per barrel on refinery crude oil and imported petroleum products. This comes out to about 0.23 cents per gallon – about 1/5th of one cent.
- A per ton tax on 42 chemicals that have hazardous characteristics or may generate hazardous wastes. This tax ranges from 22 cents to $4.87.
- A corporate environmental income tax, which is an income tax imposed on large corporations based on their alternative minimum taxable income. The tax rate is .12% ($12 per $10,000) of the alternative minimum taxable income above $2 million.
Before they expired, these three dedicated taxes provided an average of $1.7 billion per year. According to the Dept. of Treasury, if these taxes were reinstated they would yield revenues of $8.2 billion over 5 years and $18.9 billion over 10 years.
How much money is left in the Superfund?
There is virtually no money left, and what is there comes mainly from interest in past appropriations from the General Treasury. Even though the taxing authority expired in 1995, the fund’s balance remained positive until FY 2003. At the end of 1996, the trust fund reached a peak balance of $3.8 billion, but without a consistent source of funding, the balance dwindled to basically zero by the end of FY 2003.
Aren’t the polluters supposed to pay?
In a majority of cases, Superfund cleanups are paid for by the potentially responsible parties (PRPs) – those who have been found responsible for the pollution at the site. According to EPA, PRPs conduct cleanup at more than 70% of the sites listed. However, at approximately 30% of the sites, either EPA cannot locate PRPs for these properties or the PRPs do not have the necessary financial resources to assist with cleanup. These sites, or parts of sites, are called “orphan,” and EPA uses funds from the Superfund to clean them up.
Why should corporations who did not cause the pollution have to pay with a tax?
Most of the contamination at Superfund sites comes from petroleum products and certain chemical derivatives. Corporations that have profited through the use of these hazardous materials should pay for the cleanup. The Superfund needs a stable source of funding to continue cleaning up sites around the country and also to provide a credible threat that the EPA will clean up sites and then recover the costs from liable parties who do not undertake the work themselves.
If the Superfund has been depleted, who is paying for Superfund cleanup?
Superfund cleanups are funded from an annual appropriation, which has two sources: the general fund of the U.S. Treasury and the Superfund trust fund. Because there is no more money in the Superfund, all of the funding must now come from the taxpayers. The contribution to the cleanup fund from general revenues increased from $250 million annually in FY 1993-FY 1998 to $1.31 billion in FY 2010. The Superfund program received $600 million from the Recovery Act, which EPA is using to accelerate cleanup activities or initiate new construction projects at 51 sites.
*Superfund funding information from the web site of: Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore)
From herein, my postings will refer to CERCLA as the Superfund. CERCLA or Superfund
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