EPA's Pace of Superfund Cleanups Slows - AP

Source: Associated Press

EPA's Pace of Superfund Cleanups Slows

Thursday September 13, 2007 10:16 PM

By JOHN HEILPRIN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Environmental Protection Agency
will finish 24 Superfund toxic waste cleanups this year,
far fewer than the average 76 completed annually during
the Clinton administration.

EPA initially targeted 40 Superfund sites for completed
cleanups this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Forty
cleanups were finished in fiscal 2005. Among the most
common contaminants are asbestos, lead, mercury and
radiation.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee, blamed the Bush administration's
efforts to cut EPA spending for slowing the pace of
cleanups, even though Congress ultimately sets the
agency's budget.

“This funding shortfall is a direct result of President Bush's
declining budget submissions over a number of years,
particularly when adjusted for inflation,” Dingell said in a
letter Wednesday to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

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