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Issues » Fact Sheets
Environment & Safety Fact Sheets
Superfund Reform Needed
Created in 1980 by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, Superfund has cleaned up less than 20 percent of the more than 1,200 hazardous waste sites in the program. Sites that were cleaned, were done so at a cost of more than $25 million per site, with a large percentage of these costs earmarked for lawyers and file paperwork. Originally touted as a "polluter pays" policy, under Superfund, polluter and non-polluter alike overpay.
One of the greatest problems with Superfund is that millions of dollars are spent on cleanups which produce no environmental or public health benefits. Current Superfund risk assessments greatly overstate potential risks to human health. More realistic cleanup standards could achieve protection of human health and the environment at lower cost. For instance, containment of wastes at some sites is preferable to attempting a costly cleanup.
Another principal problem with the law is the set of liability standards that Superfund has created. Under Superfund, liability for the cleanup costs is strict, retroactive, and joint-and-several. This means that even those parties with only a tangential relationship to a Superfund site can be held liable for the entire costs of cleanup.
Comprehensive Superfund Reform Is Needed:
IPAA believes real Superfund reform should include the following elements:
- More accurate assessments of the risks posed by Superfund sites;
- The elimination of sites that pose little or no risk to human health from Superfund list;
- The elimination of retroactive liability;
- The elimination of liability for parties not directly responsible for the creation or maintenance of sites;
- Increased flexibility in the selection of cleanup and containment standards and methods;
- Reaffirmation of the status of RCRA exempt waste involved in a Superfund project;
- Streamlining of the site cleanup process; and
- Implementation of a mechanism to participate in and to challenge EPA decisions.
Superfund Tax Renewal Should Be Considered Only As Part Of Comprehensive reform
IPAA strongly opposes Administration proposals to reinstate Superfund taxes. The expired Superfund taxes include a crude oil excise tax, a chemical feedstock excise tax, and an environmental income tax. Congress should not collect taxes for a program that sorely needs comprehensive reform. Superfund tax renewal should be considered only as part of comprehensive reform.
May 2000
