Putting the Fund Back In Superfund
.jpg)
Since 1996, Superfund has not really been a “fund.” From 1980 to 1996, the Superfund program levied taxes on petroleum and chemical companies and on corporate profits for its operational costs, but Congress failed to reauthorize it in 1995, and by 2003 the fund was fundless. It looks like that’s going to change.
President Obama’s 2010 budget calls for reinstatement of the tax to support the Fund to the tune of $17.2 billion from 2011 through 2019. Also, $600 million of the stimulus package is to go to the Superfund program.
The interesting question here is not whether or not the tax will pass, but how will the money get spent. During the sixteen years that Superfund was funded, less than half of the fund was used to do any cleaning of the environment. For example, in 1996, of the $1.4 billion spent by Superfund, only $614 million (44%) was actually used for cleanups. The remaining funds were used to oversee the cleanups and to administratively and legally chase “potentially responsible parties” (that wonderfully contradictory phrase that is at the heart of Superfund liability).
If we’re going to do this again, someone needs to ask the question of whether significantly more of the funds should be used to actually clean the environment rather than spending the money on chasing the parties who, after several years of administrative and legal appeals, may or may not have the money to pay for the cleanup.
It’s just a thought.
