Recovery Act Aids Superfund Cleanups

The Superfund program was established to clean up contaminated sites by making those responsible for the pollution pay for its cleanup; however, despite this the government is spending $600 million from the stimulus plan to work on Superfund sites around the country.  One such site is the Vineland Chemical Company plant located in New Jersey that is polluted with arsenic.  The Environmental Protection Agency says that this is important because the Superfund program has been under-financed ever since the tax that supported it expired in 1995. 

At this site and at many other sites, taxpayers are responsible for paying for cleanups because either no party was deemed responsible for the pollution or money from the original polluter has been exhausted.  Even though the stimulus plan comes from taxpayers' money, the EPA feels that using this money will help speed up the cleaning process and also provide job opportunities.  President Obama would prefer to restore the Superfund tax that once collected hundreds of millions of dollars every year to put towards Superfund site restoration so that taxpayers are not responsible for funding these efforts.  Until then, the stimulus package will continue to fund these efforts, and it nearly  doubles the available funds for these cleanups.

Reinstating this tax could provide much needed funds for Superfund site cleanups.  This tax would also hold the parties who created the pollution responsible for funding its cleanup.  Even though the American Chemistry Council opposes this tax because it would charge all manufacturers rather than only the guilty polluters, cleanup costs should not have to be the sole responsibility of the government.  Currently the government and taxpayers are charged with funding Superfund site cleanups, but this tax will help alleviate funding problems so that more sites can benefit.  It is also important that the Superfund program continue to name the polluters because if polluters are forced to take responsibility for their actions, they may have more incentive to clean up their manufacturing processes as to allow for less pollution overall.  The reinstitution of this tax will ultimately greatly influence the Superfund program and help clean up sites across the nation.