WASHINGTON,
DC—On the eve of Superfund’s 25th anniversary, a new report released
today by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) finds
Superfund’s ability to respond to natural disasters and toxic cleanups
jeopardized by persistent funding shortfalls.
The report, Empty Pockets: Facing Hurricane Katrina’s Cleanup With a Bankrupt Superfund,
focuses on the toxic cleanup challenges presented by Hurricane
Katrina—the nation’s worst environmental disaster. In conjunction with
this report release, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) introduced a
bill to reinstate the Superfund fees and provide a dedicated source of
funding for Hurricane Katrina cleanup.
“Superfund was designed to protect the public from toxic threats, but
funding shortfalls are crippling the program,” said U.S. PIRG Staff
Attorney Alex Fidis. “Without more funding, Superfund approaches
natural disaster toxic cleanups with empty pockets.”
The
report describes how Superfund cleanups after natural disasters can
pose a significant and unexpected financial drain on a program already
suffering from a scarcity of funds. This added financial strain
compounds existing funding problems and jeopardizes Superfund’s ability
to respond to natural disasters and to clean toxic waste sites.
Since
2002, Superfund has endured annual funding deficits, with overall
deficits exceeding $600 million. If current program funding levels
remain static, funding shortfalls can be expected to increase with
Katrina response costs. These funding shortfalls slow or postpone
existing toxic cleanups and threaten Superfund’s natural disaster
response functions.
“At
a time when we should be celebrating Superfund’s silver anniversary, we
are instead eulogizing a dying program,” said U.S. PIRG’s Fidis.
“Unless funding levels increase, future cleanup costs and potentially
massive Katrina costs will continue Superfund’s fiscal free fall.”
The
report concludes that Superfund must receive more funding to meet
current spending needs in order to protect public health. By
reinstating Superfund’s traditional source of income provided by the
polluter fees, the program will receive sufficient funding to clean up
toxic waste sites and to support disaster response functions.
