SUPERFUND FACT BOOK (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Jan. 27, 1999 |
| Report Number |
97-312 |
| Authors |
Mark Reisch and David M. Bearden, Environment and Natural Resources Policy Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The Superfund program is the principal federal effort for cleaning up hazardous waste sites and
protecting public health and the environment from releases of hazardous substances. The
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA)
established the program, and the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA)
amended it. This report is a compendium of data and other pertinent information about CERCLA
and the Superfund program, followed by a glossary.
The law's strict, joint and several, and retroactive liability regime requires responsible parties
to pay for cleaning up a site. However, CERCLA established the Hazardous Substance Superfund
Trust Fund to pay for cleanups where a financially viable party cannot be found. The trust fund has
raised about $1.5 billion per year for cleanup activities, primarily from excise taxes on petroleum
and specified chemical feedstocks, and from a corporate environmental income tax, all of which
expired on December 31, 1995. The trust fund also pays for the Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA) enforcement, management activities, and research and development. For FY1999, Congress
enacted appropriations of $1.5 billion for the Superfund program ( P.L. 105-276 ).
The National Priorities List (NPL) tracks the sites that most seriously threaten public health and
the environment. As of September 29, 1998, the NPL contained a total of 1,260 final and proposed
sites, of which 162 were federal facilities and 1,098 were non-federal sites. The Construction
Completion List (CCL) catalogs NPL sites where physical construction is complete for all necessary
cleanup and removal actions. As of September 29, 1998, there were 535 sites on the CCL. EPA has
deleted a total of 176 sites from the NPL because response actions are complete.
In addition to being responsible for cleanup costs, polluters also must pay to restore natural
resource damages at Superfund sites. As of July 1996, federal agencies had completed settlements
for natural resource damage claims with responsible parties at 67 sites for a total of $117.6 million.
In March 1996, the federal government filed the largest natural resource damage claim to date for
a total of $970 million against several mining companies for contamination in the Coeur d'Alene
River Basin in Idaho. Negotiations over the claim are continuing.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry assesses the impact of hazardous
substance releases on public health. As of February 1997, the agency had completed 1,776 public
health assessments at Superfund sites.
The number of state programs that clean up hazardous waste sites has increased in recent years,
and each state has enacted its own enforcement authority. At the end of 1997, the states reported
nearly 24,000 potentially hazardous sites warranting attention. All states, except for Nebraska and
the District of Columbia, have established their own funds to pay for cleanup activities. The total
balance of all state funds at the end of FY1997 was roughly $1.4 billion, of which states spent about
$565 million for cleanup activities in FY1997.
