"This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world. States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
- U.S. President G. W. Bush
01.29.2002
- by JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.
New York Times
07.22.2002
WASHINGTON, July 21 - The Environmental Protection Agency has restored money to clean up 11 toxic dump sites under its Superfund program, after having told local officials that they would not receive any money this year, agency officials said.
Even more sites may receive additional financing this summer, a senior official of the agency said in an interview. However, many other sites may not receive money that regional officials have said is needed for cleanup.
Last month, Democratic members of Congress who are seeking increases in the budget for the Superfund program released a report by the environmental agency's inspector general that listed 33 sites in 18 states where the regional offices had been told this year that they would not get the money they had requested.
The agency officials said the additional money was being handed out just as the inspector general's report was being completed.
Congress is still considering how much money to spend on Superfund next year, and whether to reimpose a tax on industry that provides extra money to clean up toxic wastes left behind by companies that are now unable to pay for cleanup.
"I hope to be able to announce in August or September money for additional sites," said Marianne Horinko, who manages the Superfund program. "We are really trying to take money dedicated for cleanup and use it for cleanup."
Ms. Horinko and Joe Martyak, the agency's director of communications, named 11 sites out of the 33 where some or all of the money being sought by regional officials would now be provided. They are: the Combe Fill South Landfill in Chester Township, N.J.; the GCL Tie and Treading site in Sidney, N.Y.; the North Penn Area 6 site in Landsdale, Pa.; the Tutu Wellfield site in Tutu, V.I.; the American Creosote Works site in Pensacola, Fla.; the Solitron Microwave site in Port Salerno, Fla.; the Ross Metals site in Rossville, Tenn.; the Aircraft Components site in Benton Harbor, Mich.; the Hudson Refinery site in Cushing, Okla.; the Sprague Road Groundwater Plume site in Odessa, Tex.; and the 10th Street site in Columbus, Neb.
In addition, money is now being given to two mining areas in Montana, near the town of Basin and at Upper Tenmile Creek, southwest of Helena, that were not on the original list of 33.
In total, the agency said, it would provide $29.6 million to those 11 sites, although only four of them would get the full amount the regional offices had requested. The inspector general's report said the regional offices had requested about $55 million for the sites.
In interviews, the E.P.A. officials said that five of the sites mentioned in the inspector general's report did not need money this year, as work was not ready to proceed at those sites for various reasons. In all, regional officials had asked for $228 million for the 33 sites, according to the inspector general's data.
Aside from the 11 that have now received more money and the five that the E.P.A. said do not need money this year, there are still 17 sites where no money has yet been provided, including many where work is ready to proceed.
In an Op-Ed article in The New York Times on Thursday, Christie Whitman, the administrator of the E.P.A., said that "all sites with ongoing cleanup projects will continue to receive funding in 2002," adding, "No work is being suspended."
But Congressional officials, local officials and independent experts all said that there are places around the country where work had begun or was scheduled to begin this year but lack of money meant that the work could not be done as planned.
Back to axis of evil main page.