Super find

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Superfund is a program of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that finances and organizes the investigation, securing and remediation of harmful soil and water pollution in the USA . The focus is primarily on inactive and abandoned areas with contaminated sites , especially toxic waste.

As of January 31, 2020, 1,335 sites had been identified as Superfund sites on the National Priorities List that were in various stages of the program. The EPA's 2020 budget has earmarked $ 1.029 billion for Superfund activities to cover those costs that cannot be passed on to the polluter or polluters on a polluter-pays basis.

history

The federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), passed in late 1980 in response to toxic waste scandals such as the Love Canal landfill, created the legal basis for the Superfund program. A multi-stage process was designed with which contaminated areas can be identified, examined, secured and rehabilitated. This also included the name-giving fund , which initially comprised 1.6 billion US dollars up to 1985, which was provided from taxes on petroleum products and 42 chemicals. This enabled the containment and elimination of environmental damage to be financed if or as long as the costs could not be passed on to those who caused it.

While CERCLA was passed by a majority of the Democratic Party in the legislative period of the 96th Congress of the United States and signed by Jimmy Carter , the implementation of the Superfund program fell into the term of office of the Republican Ronald Reagan . Reagan and his administration were generally critical of the EPA's previous role as a federal agency and considered it too restrictive. Superfund was only used cautiously: 160 Superfund areas were on the first National Priorities List ; by 1985, 850 had been identified. However, only six sites were completely cleaned in the same period. Reagan appointed EPO administrator Anne Gorsuch saw no need to extend the program beyond 1985 either, and wanted to transfer its responsibilities to the states instead. By the end of 1982, several Congressional investigative committees were established to examine the EPA's handling of superfund funds and the overall effectiveness of the program. The Superfund Administrator Rita Marie Lavelle, who has been in office since 1982, was dismissed in 1984 and sentenced to jail for false statements before Congress, while Gorsuch on March 9, 1983 because of general criticism and an ongoing case for disregard of Congress ( Contempt of Congress ) resigned. As the General Accounting Office of Congress found in retrospect, during Reagan's eight-year presidency, 799 superfund sites were identified, but only 16 were rehabilitated and only 40 million of a potential $ 700 million were recovered from identified polluters.

In order to prevent the end of the Superfund program and to respond to the problems identified in the committees of inquiry, a bill to extend it was drafted in the 98th United States Congress . This was introduced and passed in the House of Representatives , but was not approved by the Senate . The main point of dispute between the two chambers was the size of the budget: while the House of Representatives estimated $ 10 billion for the next five years, the Senate only wanted to approve $ 7.5 billion. The government, now more positive about the Superfund program, had proposed a range of $ 4.5 to $ 5.3 billion. From the end of the original term on September 30, 1985, there were no more funds from special taxes available for the Superfund. The EPA continued the program with existing budget funds, but announced in early 1986 cuts to possible termination unless a new funding agreement was found.

In 1986, the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) in the 99th Congress of the United States finally enabled a new edition of the Superfund program. The budget was now $ 8.5 billion over five years, of which $ 6.65 million came from three special taxes from certain industries and $ 1.25 billion from general taxes, with the remaining $ 0.6 billion paid directly from polluters and interest income should. At the same time, the criteria for securing and redevelopment were tightened: work was to begin at 275 locations within three years and at a total of 650 within five years.

By the beginning of 1994, 1,289 superfund sites had been identified, but only 217 had been cleared or renovated. From government funds and polluter payments together, 13 billion US dollars had flowed through Superfund by this time, of which about a quarter were accounted for by "transaction costs" for lawyers and consultants. One reason for these difficulties was that every part of the cause of a superfund site could in principle be made liable for the entire renovation costs, which meant that the companies involved sued each other and delayed proceedings.

President Bill Clinton changed the Superfund procedure in February 1994 by decree ( Executive Order 12898), according to which greater consideration should be given to disproportionately affected sections of the population with low incomes and national minorities. A general revision of the legal basis of the Superfund failed in 1994 in Congress. Among other things, Republican senators made their approval dependent on the deletion of an existing section in the CERCLA law, which would have allowed polluter liability for environmental damage retrospectively before 1980, but was considered essential by Senators of the Democratic Party. In the absence of a new assessment, the financing of the Superfund from special taxes ended again in late summer 1995. As a consequence, the Superfund donations from general tax revenues increased, while own funds from the own fund and the total amount of available funds decreased. While in 1993 $ 250 million of a total of $ 1.589 billion (adjusted for inflation at the 2003 level: 299 million of 1.903 billion) in grants to the Superfund program came from general government revenues, around half of the grants in 2003 and 100% of the now 1.257 in 2004 Million dollars raised from general funds (adjusted for inflation at 2003 level: 1.241 million dollars). The total spending of the Superfund program in 2003 was $ 1.517 billion; the difference to the government grants was borne directly by the polluters.

These fundamentals of Superfund funding have not changed since then: the costs that are not covered by the polluters are covered by the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency; the special taxation options that existed until 1995 no longer exist. The EPA budget allocation is set annually and was $ 1.099 billion in 2013. This year, 1,158 Superfund sites were identified, eight of which were added in 2013, while six were removed from the National Priorities List after the renovation was completed . The EPA's 2020 budget includes $ 1.029 billion for Superfund activities.

Superfund program

The process from the identification of a potential superfund case to the completion of a contaminated site remediation basically comprises the following steps:

  • If the EPA aware of a potential Superfund site receives with environmentally harmful contamination, this is first in an initial assessment / Site Investigation ( Preliminary Assessment / Site Inspection checked). Among other things, available documents are checked, interviews are conducted with those affected, and soil, water and air samples are taken and analyzed. Based on the information obtained, a classification is carried out in a defined Hazard Ranking System (HRS) ( German  analogous to risk assessment procedure ).
  • If the initial assessment reveals a persistent health risk, the identified location is proposed for inclusion in the National Priorities List (NPL). To this end, the EPO publishes the proposal in the Federal Register and in local media in the affected region. Admission to the NPL takes place after a deadline.
  • After taking in the NPL is a remedial investigation / feasibility study ( Remedial Investigation / Feasibility Study ) together with the detailed description site ( Site Characterization performed).
  • On the basis of the information obtained in the rehabilitation investigation, the steps required for rehabilitation are summarized in a formal Record of Decision (ROD) and published.
  • If all the necessary information and resources are available, a redevelopment concept is drawn up and implemented ( remedial design / remedial action ).
  • After completion of the renovation work ( construction completion ), a follow-up phase can follow in which, for example, filters continue to be operated until the limit values ​​are not reached ( post construction completion ).
  • If all the redevelopment goals defined in the ROD have been achieved, the superfund location can be deleted from the National Priorities List ( National Priorities List Deletion ).
  • Superfund locations are then available for subsequent use ( site reuse / redevelopment ), with the EPA itself partly involved in the marketing of these areas.

Superfund locations

Map of Superfund locations, 2013

Locations identified in the Superfund remediation program with harmful soil or water pollution are included in the so-called National Priorities List (NPL). As of January 31, 2020, this list comprised 1,335 locations. At this point in time, 51 additional areas were earmarked for inclusion in the NPL. From the start of the Superfund program to January 31, 2020, 424 locations were canceled by the NPL after renovation measures were completed. The construction completion status (completion of the renovation work) was achieved for a total of 1211 areas; in addition to the 424 fully completed procedures at 787 locations.

Over the life of the program, Superfund areas have been identified in all states, the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands , Guam , Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico territories . Most of the sites currently listed in the NPL are in New Jersey (114), California (97) and Pennsylvania (91). As of January 31, 2020, North Dakota is the only state where all Superfund locations (two) have been removed by the NPL after the renovation work is complete. Love Canal in Niagara Falls , which triggered the CERCLA and Superfund implementation, has not been on the NPL since September 30, 2004.

literature

Web links

Commons : Superfund sites  - collections of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Superfund: National Priorities List (NPL). Environmental Protection Agency , January 31, 2020, accessed February 2, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b EPA budget in letter. (PDF) Environmental Protection Agency , 2019, p. 11; 27 , accessed on February 2, 2020 .
  3. ^ A b John A. Hird: Superfund: The Political Economy of Risk . Johns Hopkins University Press , Baltimore 1994, ISBN 978-0-8018-4807-0 , pp. 14-20 (English).
  4. ^ A b c John A. Hird: Superfund: The Political Economy of Risk . Johns Hopkins University Press , Baltimore 1994, ISBN 978-0-8018-4807-0 , pp. 9-14 (English).
  5. ↑ David Goeller: House Members Want Tougher 'Superfund' Bill. Associated Press , October 4, 1985, accessed February 2, 2020 .
  6. ↑ 99th United States Congress (ed.): Spill at the Butler Tunnel in Pittston, PA: Hearing Before the Committee Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Commerce, Transportation, and Tourism . No. 99-73 , October 23, 1985, pp. 90 (English): “( James Florio ) ... lamenting the fact only six sites have been taken off of the Superfund list in the last 5 years (...) 850 are now on the national priority list”
  7. ^ EPA: Investigation of Superfund and Agency Abuses: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, Ninety-eighth Congress . US Government Printing Office, 1984, pp. 382 (English): “Hedeman, who headed the Superfund program (...) gave two examples, the second of which follows: (...) the administration would not seek reauthorization of the trust fund, and that the program would proceed as an interim measure for 5 years until States could assume the responsibility for this national problem. "
  8. ↑ Nathaniel Rich: Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change . In: The New York Times . August 1, 2018 (English, full text ): “By the end of 1982, multiple congressional committees were investigating Anne Gorsuch for her indifference to enforcing the cleanup of Superfund sites, and the House voted to hold her in contempt of Congress”
  9. ↑ Not So Super Superfund . In: The New York Times . February 14, 1994, p. 16 (English, full text ): “In Mr. Reagan's eight years, according to a GAO report, only 16 of the 799 Superfund sites then identified were cleaned up, and only $ 40 million of a potentially $ 700 million in recoverable cleanup funds from polluters were collected. "
  10. ↑ HR5640 - Superfund Expansion and Protection Act of 1984. United States Congress , 1984, accessed February 2, 2020 (Full text of the bill and a brief history of the legislative process).
  11. ↑ Linda Werfelman: Superfund threatened by lack of money. United Press International , January 30, 1986, accessed February 2, 2020 .
  12. ↑ HR2005 - Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986. United States Congress , 1986, accessed February 2, 2020 (English, full legislative text and brief history of the legislative process).
  13. ↑ Not So Super Superfund . In: The New York Times . February 14, 1994, p. 16 (English, full text ): “It has failed the performance test: of 1,289 sites with serious health risks, only 217 have been cleaned up in 14 years. It has failed the efficiency test: of the $ 13 billion spent by governments and companies, one-fourth has gone to what are euphemistically known as "transaction costs" - fees to lawyers and consultants, many of them former Federal officials who spun through Washington's revolving door to trade their Superfund expertise for private gain. "
  14. ↑ Federal Actions To Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations. February 11, 1994, accessed February 2, 2020 .
  15. ^ John H. Cushman Jr .: Congress forgoes its bid to hasten cleanup of dumps . In: The New York Times . October 6, 1994, p. 1 (English, full text ).
  16. ^ Superfund Program: Updated Appropriation and Expenditure Data. (PDF) General Accounting Office , February 18, 2004, accessed February 2, 2020 .
  17. ^ Superfund: Trends in Federal Funding and Cleanup of EPA's Nonfederal National Priorities List Sites. (PDF) Government Accountability Office , September 2015, p. 46 , accessed on February 2, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Superfund Cleanup Process. Environmental Protection Agency , 2019, accessed February 2, 2020 .
  19. ↑ David Johnson: Do You Live Near Toxic Waste? See 1,317 of the Most Polluted Spots in the US In: Time . March 22, 2017, accessed February 2, 2020 .
  20. ^ Final rule; Notice of deletion of the Love Canal Superfund site from the National Priorities List . In: Federal Register . tape 69 , no. 189 , September 30, 2004, pp. 58322–58323 (English, full text, PDF ).