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United States
Environmental Protection
icncy
Office of
Public Affairs (A-107)
Washington DC 20460
Environmental News
i •
SUPERFUND
CLEANUPS TO
ACCELERATE
Washington, DC 2040®
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, APRIL I, 1986
Priscilla Smith (202) 382-4387
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency'will
immediately accelerate its Superfund hazardous waste
site cleanup program with new funds recently approved
by Congress and signed by President Reagan.
The President, in a statement from the White House/
said "I am pleased to know that the Congress has enabled
me to provide emergency funding to allow the Environ-
mental Protection Agency to continue its work in cleaning
up our Nation's hazardous waste sites. This does not
mean, however, that the Administration is in any way
less committed to our goal of a responsible reauthori-
zation of the Superfund. The Congress knows what it
must do."
On March 21, Congress passed the interim funding
measure giving the agency $150 million to effectively
restart the Superfund program over the next 60 days.
The taxing authority to fund cleanup expired Sept. 30,
1985, and the agency was forced to delay work at 114
sites across the country, as well as scale-down some
emergency response and short-term removal actions.
Without additional funding by April 1, the agency was
prepared to begin shutting down the program entirely.
Congress continues to debate a five-year renewal of the
program in a House-Senate Conference Committee.
Lee M. Thomas, EPA Administrator, said, "With the
60-day funding, we can move at full speed to restart
many projects delayed last fall, to begin new projects
and to keep the momentum going at projects where work
is now underway. We currently expect work to move
forward at approximately 97 sites." (See attached
list. )
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(more)
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Thomas said he was relieved that the last-minute effort by Congress
would prevent the imminent termination of contractors who conduct the
Superfund field work. "However," he noted, "we will once again be on the
bri'hk of a shutdown as of May 31 without additional funding to keep the
program going at that level. It is critical if we are to have a successful*
national cleanup program that Congress act quickly to reauthorize Super-
fund for a full five years."
Thomas said the funds for long-term work first will be committed to
projects entering the final phases of cleanup, such as engineering design
work and actual construction of the final remedy. Remaining funds will be
available for investigative studies as well as short-term removals and
emergency response actions.
"We are committed to getting cleanup underway at all sites where work
is waiting to be done. This includes sites where we are engaged in
negotiations with private parties for the cleanup work. Negotiations must
be progressing satisfactorily toward private party cleanup. If they are
not, we are ready to move expeditiously to cleanup using the Superfund
and recover the costs later."
Under the measure, the agency must commit the entire $150 million by
May 31. This would.be the 60-day equivalent of the $900 million program
the agency envisioned for this year under the Administration's fiscal year
1986 budget request.
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SUPERFUND 60-DAY EXTENSION
* i "• '•
Fact Sheet.. . . ,
o The Superfund lav, first enacted in December 1980,
established a $1.6 billion trust fund to pay for cleaning up
the nation's worst abandoned, uncontrolled.hazardous waste
dumpsites. Resources for that program were derived from a
special tax on petroleum, and chemical and petrochemical
feedstocks. The authority to collect that tax expired on
September 30, 1985..
o Since that time, no new funding for Superfund cleanups
has been available. Although the Administration requested a
fiscal year 1986 Superfund budget of $900 million, the program
has been forced to operate on slightly more than $200 million
since October 1, 1985. Those funds were carried over from
the unobligated balance in fiscal year 1985.
o Using these limited resources, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has maintained all elements of the
Superfund program (including ongoing engineering studies,
design and construction work at sites, enforcement actions
against polluters, and identification of additional national
priority sites). However, the program has operated at a
much slower pace than originally planned for.
»
o EPA on numerous occasions informed Congress that a
full, five-year reauthorization of Superfund must be a top
legislative priority. Most recently, it told Congress that
most carry-over Superfund resources would be exhausted by
April 1, 1986. After that date, the agency would be forced
to begin dismantling the program by terminating major support
contracts for field work and by initiating procedures to
furlough Superfund's 1,500 employees sometime after
October 1, 1986.
o On March 21, Congress approved $150 million in emergency
funds to continue Superfund beyond April 1, 1986. Congress
did not extend the original Superfund tax; rather, it borrowed
all funds from general revenue and required that they be
obligated no later than May 31, 1986. The law requires that
these funds be paid back using resources generated by future
taxes once the program is fully reauthorized.
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o EPA's objective during the next two months will be to
return the cleanup program to the pace that had been established
last summer, before the slowdown was instituted. The agency
will focus its efforts and available resources on:
o Responding immediately to emergency situations
posing an imminent threat to human health or the
environment.
o Designing and constructing remedies at sites
where engineering studies had been completed but
additional work had to be halted pending availability
of new funding.
o Enforcing the Superfund law against companies
deemed to be liable for contamination at sites.
Wherever possible, companies will be encouraged
to do the cleanup work themselves. Where they .
are unable to do so, or chose not to, the agency '
will use Superfund money and sue private companies j
to recover those resources at a later date. !
o Continuing work to identify new sites posing
long-term and short-term threats and completing
engineering studies already underway at priority
sites.
o The agency will also be preparing for expanded Superfund
activities after May 31. The Administration had requested a
fiscal year 1986 Superfund budget of $900 million. The budget
request for fiscal year 1987 is $1.05 billion.
o The 60-day extension expires May 31, 1986. If Congress
does not reauthorize Superfund by that date, EPA will again
be forced to to begin dismantling the program.
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NEW PROJECTS PLANNED FDR INTERIM FUNDING
FY 1986
MAR 28
REGION SITE NAME, CITY, STATE
I *Beacon Heights, Beacon Palls, CT
Cannon Engineering, Plymouth, MA
*Hbcomonco Pond, Westborough, MA
Nyanza Chemical, Ashland, MA
II Bog Creek Farm, Howell Township, NJ
Bridgeport Rental, Bridgeport, NJ
D'Imperio Property, Hamilton Township, NJ
GEMS Landfill, Gloucester Township, NJ
« *Gcose Farm, Plumstead Township, NJ
Helen Kramer Landfill, Mantua Township, NJ
Lipari Landfill, Pitman, NJ
*Swope oil, Pennsauken, NJ
III Douglassville, Douglassville, PA
*Harvey-Khott, Kirkwood, IDE
Heleva Landfill, North Whitehall Twp., PA
Lansdowne Radiation, Lansdowne, PA
*McAdoo Associates, McAdoo Borough, PA
*Moyers L/F, Eagleville, PA
*Sand, Gravel & Stone, Elkton, MD
*Taylor Borough, Taylor Borough, PA
TV Davie Landfill, Davie, PL
Miami Drum (Biscayne Aquifer), Miami, PL
V *Acme Solvent, Morristown, IL
Byron Salvage, Byron, IL
Eau Claire WellfieId, Eau Claire, WI
LeHillier/Mankato, LeHillier/Mankato, MN
Main Street Wellfield, Elkhart, IN
New Lyme Landfill, New Lyme, OH
Old Mill, Rock Creek, OH
Schmalz Dump, Harrison, WI
*Wauconda Sand, Wauconda, IL
VI Bayou Bonfouca, Slidell, LA
Bio-Ecology, 'Grand Prairie, TX
Old Inger Oil, Darrow, LA
VII Aidex, Council Bluffs, IA
IX Celtor Chemical, Hoopa, CA
Dal Norte Pesticide, Crescent City, CA
X Lakewood, Lakewcod, WA
"Western Processing, Kent, HA
ACTIVITY
RD
RD/RA
RD
RD
RD
RA
RA
RD
RD
RD
RD
RD
RD
RD
RA
RA
RD
RD
RD
RD
RD
RD
RD
RA
RA
RD
RA
RD
RD
RD
RD
RD
RA
RA
RA
RD
RD
RD/RA
RD
* Negotiations with responsible parties are actively underway
KEY:
RD - Remedial Design
RA - Remedial Coastruction
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ACTIONS WHERE OBLIGATinyiS WILL OCCUR BETWEEN APRIL 1, 1986
AND MAlf 31, "
REGION I
Auburn Rd., Londonderry, NH
nurns Hill Rd., Hudson, NH
Milford Site, Milford, NH
Tibbets Rd., Barrington, NH
Stamina Mills, N. Srnithfield, RI
REGION II
Corplain toad, Hillsboro, NJ
Glen Ridge Radon, Glen Ridge, NJ
Industrial latex, Wellington, NJ
Montclair Radon, Montclair, NJ
Vteldick Aerospace Devices, Hall TVp., NJ
Cayadotta Creek, Johnstown, NY
Clothier Disposal, Granby, NY
Fulton Terminal, Fulton, NY
Primoshield, Utica, NY
Signo Trading, Staten Island, NY
Puerto Rico Organics, Arecibo, PR
REGION III
Dorney Road, Allentown, PA
Duncansville Trailer, Altoona, PA
Crown Refrigeration, J=tie, PA
M.W. Manufacturing, Harrisburrj, PA
Mill Creek Dump, Erie, PA
Tri-State Insulation, Ftie, PA
Walsh Landfill, Honeybrook, PA
Itoanoke River Flood, Roanoke, VA
Abex Site, Portsmouth, VA
Schaffer Hiuipment, Minden, WV
Clark Property, Kanawha, W
REKICT? IV
General Befining, Savannah, GA
Lee Road Acid Drums, Douqlasville, GA
Burkett Cylinder, Charleston, SC
Roan Mountain, Roan Mountain, TM
REGION V
Ryron Landfill, Byron, IL
T/fedzeb, Lebanon, IN
Dowden Landfill, Ftortville, IN
Monon, Mbnon, IN
Shelton Vfell, Columbus, IN
Western Scrap, Hammond, IN
Hidvgest Plating, Kokomo, IN
Elkhart, Elkhart, IN
International Disk, Ellsworth, MI
G & H landfill, Utica, MI
LDI, Utica, MI
Lee's Farm, Wbodville, wi
REGION VI
Allen Transformer, Fort Smith, AR
301 Main Site, S. Houston, TX
South Acres Site, S. Houston, TX
Winkler Rd., Site, S. Houston, TX
Turtle Bayou, Liberty County, TX
REGION VII
Quail Run Site, Franklin County, MO
Castlewood Site, Castlewood, MO
Minker/Stout/Romaine Creek Site,
Jefferson County, MO
REGION VIII
South Adams County, Coranerce City, CO
Mill Creek Site, Mill Creek', MT
REGION IX
Operating Industries, Monterey Park, CA
Aiviso Site, Alviso, CA
Port Mojave Site, Fort Mojave, CA
Copperopolis Site, Copperopolis, CA
REGION X
Bunker Hill Site, Kellogg, ID
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