&EPA
                             United States
                             Environmental Protection
                             Agency
                             Office of
                             Solid Waste and
                             Emergency Response
Publication 9200.5-008D
November 1990
Superfund:    Fact  vs.  Fiction
                             Many misconceptions about Superfund have arisen since the Federal hazardous waste cleanup program
                             began 10 years ago. The rapid increase in Superfund sites, the slow pace of cleanup due to complex
                             technical and programmatic problems, and limited resources were some challenges Superfund faced.
                             In this fact sheet, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) separates the facts from
                             the fictions about Superfund.
                             Fiction
                            Superfund has spent billions of dollars to clean up
                            only a few sites.
                            Contractors do all the work.
                            Potentially responsible parties are not doing their
                            share of the cleanup.
                            Potentially responsible parties don't do as good a
                            cleanup job as government does.
                            Superfund provides only temporary solutions,
                            such as containment, and not long-term cleanup at
                            hazardous waste sites.
                            The quality of Superfund cleanups varies across
                            the country.
                                          Fact

                                          EPA has evaluated over 30,000 sites and slated
                                          over 1,200 for cleanup.  We have conducted
                                          engineering studies at over 1,000 sites, started
                                          cleanup at almost 500, and responded to almost
                                          2,000 emergencies.

                                          Federal officials make all cleanup and policy
                                          decisions. They oversee and direct contractors
                                          with special expertise, equipment, or manpower
                                          to perform certain cleanup tasks.

                                          Potentially responsible parties are now conduct-
                                          ing almost 60 percent of new remedial actions.
                                          Their cleanup Agreements with EPA have
                                          exceeded $2 billion in the last two years.

                                          Potentially responsible parties meet site cleanup
                                          requirements just as well as the government
                                          does, a recent EPA survey shows.

                                          Superfund protects people and the environment
                                          by attacking the worst problems first  Long-term
                                          cleanups follow on a priority basis.  Over 70
                                          percent of cleanup decisions in 1989 reduced the
                                          toxicity, mobility, or volume of hazardous
                                          wastes at Superfund sites through the use of
                                          treatment technologies.

                                          Although each Superfund site is unique, EPA
                                          applies the same cleanup standards nationwide.

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