After suffering neglect under the previous regime, the EPA's Superfund program is showing signs of renewed vigor. On Tuesday EPA announced adding
10 new sites to the national priority list bringing the total of seriously contaminated sites waiting for cleanup to 1,279. The announcement comes after an exceptional year for enforcement activity. During 2009 responsible parties committed to pay about $2 billion to clean Superfund sites, the second highest amount since the program began in 1980. However the original funding mechanism which required producers of toxic materials to pay into the fund for clean up expired in the mid 1990's. Since then the agency has had to ask nicely for polluters to contribute to cleaning their mess. The EPA has little funding to do the work itself. With money in the fund, the agency was able to impose tougher clean up commitments on polluters. The administration has said publicly that it intends to reinstate the polluter pays provision, but wants to wait until there is more economic recovery.
One of the sites added to the list is the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York [photo]. The canal has been flanked by industrial companies since the early 1900's. Millions of gallons of toxic chemicals and oil products have been dumped into it, creating a smelly, toxic soup. The Gowanus Canal caught fire in 1946 due to gasoline floating on its surface presaging the infamous
Cuyahoga River fire of 1969. That event spurred on the American environmental movement, and resulted in the federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972. As one commentator noted, the river "burned on newscasts all over the world".
Many of these superfund sites have
long histories. The poisonous conditions have simply been ignored due to lack of money, political will or legal liability necessary to ameliorate the years of land abuse. In the case of the Chemetco site northeast of St. Louis, the operators filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the midst of a court ordered cleanup. A secondary copper smelter operated between 1969 and 2001 leaving behind 500,000 cubic yards of sludge contaminated with heavy metals and other hazardous materials. The company was found guilty of using a secret pipeline to dump hazardous waste into a tributary of the Mississippi River. Several workers were also found guilty of conspiracy. They were fined and ordered to home detention, but the company's former president who ordered the pipeline fled prosecution. He is believed to be living in Belgium. The status of the $3.8 million in fines against the bankrupt company is unclear. The poisonous mess remains.
