Superfund Bill Would Undercut Cleanups, Promote Lawsuits

Superfund reauthorization legislation scheduled to be voted on today by the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure would lead to weaker and slower cleanups, according to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The bill is a revised version of H.R. 2727, initially introduced by Subcommittee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) last year.

“Though the revised version of H.R. 2727 has some good provisions, it has too many loopholes that will result in inadequate cleanups and continued threats to public health,” said Karen Florini, senior attorney with EDF. “It allows clean ground water to get dirty in too many instances, weakens treatment requirements, and exempts Superfund cleanups from requirements that apply to all other hazardous wastes. It also fails to assure that any ‘institutional controls’ adopted as part of cleanups - such as restrictions to prevent digging at former waste sites - are effective and fully enforceable.”

“In addition, H.R. 2727 undercuts the polluter-pays principle. For example, the bill’s pay- the-polluters provision requires the Superfund Trust Fund to partly reimburse polluters who already agreed to carry out cleanups, an unwarranted windfall. It also lets large businesses off the hook for messes created by oil ‘recycling’ operations. And it provides preferential treatment that assures that ‘liability relief’ funds will be available, while cleanup funding may fall short. Funds for cleanups must be given top priority,” said Florini. “Meanwhile, the bill introduces a plethora of new terms that will give rise to delays while everyone argues about what the new terms mean. Eventually, those arguments will wind up in court.”

“The bill has several sins of omission as well,” said Florini. “It doesn’t do anything to enhance public Right to Know, or to strengthen environmental justice considerations in the cleanup program.”

In a letter distributed yesterday to all members of the Subcommittee, EDF joined with the Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club, and US PIRG in urging opposition to the bill. Attached to the letter was a two-page fact sheet detailing problems with the bill.