Move to resurrect Superfund tax likely to spark battle on Hill

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 20, 2010

There is no question that the Superfund program, first established 30 years ago, is facing a budget crunch. For 15 years, the federal government imposed taxes on oil and chemical companies and certain other corporations that went directly into a cleanup trust fund, which reached its peak of $3.8 billion in 1996. But the taxes expired in 1995, and because Congress refused to renew them, the fund ran out of money.

Now the Obama administration will push to reinstate the so-called Superfund tax. The Environmental Protection Agency, which rarely urges the passage of specific bills, will send a letter to Congress as early as Monday calling for legislation to reimpose the tax.

The move will spark an intense battle on Capitol Hill, with Democrats and the administration lining up against oil companies and chemical manufacturers. The measure's proponents say it will ease the burden on taxpayers, who are currently funding the cleanup of "orphaned" sites, where no one has accepted responsibility for the contamination. Opponents suggest that it amounts to an unfair penalty.

"This is really about who should pay for the cleanup," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "Should it be the taxpayer, who has no responsibility for contaminating the sites, or should it be those individuals who create hazardous substances that contaminate the site?"

(More here.)