NEWS RELEASE
Committee on Energy and Commerce Democrats
Congressman John D. Dingell, Ranking Member

Superfund Turns 25
Lack of Funding Has Slowed Progress in Recent Years

This week marks the 25th anniversary of Superfund, the nation’s premier toxic waste cleanup program, which began under a hostile administration producing poor results, but has since grown into a successful program that has completed all cleanup construction activities at two-thirds of the 1,375 non-Federal Superfund National Priority List sites (see Attachment I).

In States such as Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Ohio, Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky and Arkansas, cleanup at more than 80 percent of the sites is complete.

The tremendous progress of the 1990s, however, has slowed significantly due to a very serious lack of funding under the Bush Administration for sites that are ready to begin cleanup actions (see Attachment II). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inspector General and others have documented a significant and growing funding shortfall over the past several years limiting cleanup actions. Funding shortfalls have grown from $114.8 million in FY2002 to $174.9 million in FY2003 to a reported $250 million in FY2004.

One year ago, the acting Assistant Administrator for the program acknowledged that, with current budget levels, construction funding could be delayed at more sites and unfunded cleanup work could total several hundred million dollars. The Government Accountability Office last year also reported that, in inflation-adjusted dollars, the Superfund program has seen a 29 percent decline in funding ($514 million from 1994 to 2004). To make matters worse, in a scramble to extend tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy, the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress are reportedly now planning to slash $13 million from the Superfund program with a proposal to cut the budget by one percent across the board.

“The Republican Congress and the Bush Administration continue to underfund what has historically been a productive program,” said Representative John D. Dingell, Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has oversight of hazardous materials and the environment. “The President should explain to the American people why he is content to leave the public health and environment at risk while toxic sites lay untreated in our communities for years.

“In recent years, I have seen the EPA circle back to its uncooperative attitude toward providing site-specific information to Congress and the public that was prevalent during the scandals of the early 1980s when many top officials resigned and the Superfund administrator departed to federal prison,” added Dingell.

Dingell was the chairman of the conference when the Superfund program was last reauthorized in 1986.

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