Lack of Funds Delaying Toxic Waste Cleanups
Number of Superfund Sites Growing While Federal Resources Drained by Other Needs
The federal government's toxic waste cleanup program is delaying projects across the country because funding is decreasing at a time when the number of sites and other demands are increasing, according to state and federal officials.
A slew of new Superfund waste sites, coupled with such needs as funding emergency responders to terrorist attacks, has drained federal resources in the past few years. As a result, officials in a number of states, including Illinois and Texas, are putting cleanup plans on hold, to the dismay of some local residents.
A top adviser to the Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday that these slowdowns do not pose a threat to public health, though he acknowledged that the program has expanded beyond what lawmakers envisioned 25 years ago when they started it.
The Superfund program requires polluters to pay for the toxic waste problems they create. But when companies go bankrupt, the federal government takes on the cost.
"It's under a lot of stress, given the changing nature of what we're asked to do," said Philip Angell, senior adviser to EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt. He added: "That doesn't mean sites are sitting out there posing a risk to public health. . . . All of them have been stabilized."
In the past few years, Angell noted, the EPA has had to contend with mining contamination in such places as Libby, Mont., which could cost as much $100 million to restore. Of the approximately 100 contaminated sites being cleaned up, 10 account for half of Superfund's long-term budget.
Continue reading this story from the Washington Post:
Lack of Funds Delaying Toxic Waste Cleanups
To learn more about the Superfund cleanup locally on the Duwamish River, please visit the website of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition.