Washington, D.C. – Congressmen John D. Dingell, D-MI, and Frank Pallone, D-NJ, Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials respectively, today requested that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christine Todd Whitman explain why the agency is so far behind in meeting its stated goals for cleaning up Superfund sites. During the last four years of President Clinton’s Administration, the Superfund program completed all construction activities at an average of 87 sites per year.

"We are dismayed to learn that in the first year of President Bush’s Administration the number of construction completions at Superfund sites was only 47," Dingell and Pallone wrote. "This is a 46 percent reduction from the average in the last four years of the Clinton Administration and a 39 percent shortfall in the Agency’s goal. We intend to determine whether this dramatic slowdown in cleanups is due to failure of management or some other reason that is not readily apparent."

Last May, EPA informed Pallone and Dingell that it would "continue to emphasize construction completions as a key priority for the Superfund program, and will continue and build upon its past efforts to expedite the rate at which Superfund sites are cleaned up." For FY 2001, the EPA set a goal of 75 construction completions.

Pallone and Dingell called particular attention to Region II (NY, NJ and PR) which appears to be seriously off track in achieving construction completions and expediting cleanups. A preliminary review of that Region shows that it is more than 15 percent lower than the national average. When compared to Region V (MN, WI, IL, IN, MI and OH), which has a similar number of National Priority Lists (NPL) sites in industrial states, it appears that the number of sites that have reached construction completion status in Region V is over 70 percent, approximately 30 percentage points higher than Region II. Additionally, Region II has the highest number of Superfund NPL lists sites listed prior to 1988 that are not yet cleaned up and also leads the Nation in listing new sites on the Superfund NPL over the past three years.

"Please explain why construction completions have dropped dramatically, why your goals were not met, and why Region II is having problems in completing its work," Dingell and Pallone demanded.

- 30 -

[Editor’s Note] See letter and questions and chart: "Superfund NPL Site Cleanup Construction Completed by Fiscal Year".  If you have any questions, please call Laura Sheehan (Committee) at 202-225-3641 or Andrew Souvall (Pallone) at 202-225-4671.