United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Press Office (A-107)
Washington DC 20460
<&EPA Environmental
News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1980	Acly (202) 755-0344
"The Federal government may soon lose much of its
GOVERNMENT ABOUT
TO RUN OUT OF ability to protect the public from dangerous chemical
MONEY TO CLEAN
UP HAZARDOUS	and oil spills," Environmental Protection Agency
CHEMICAL AND
OIL SPILLS	Administrator Douglas M. Costle warned today. Costle
noted that a special fund set up to pay for Federal
spill clean-up is in danger of being depleted.
"Money from the fund has been vital to the government
in dealing with such dangerous incidents as Love Canal
in upper New York State and the recent kerosene spill
that threatened the drinking water of Northern Virginia,"
Costle said. "If another incident similar to Love
Canal were to occur tomorrow, it is doubtful that we
would have adequate means to give the public even a
minimal amount of the protection it needs and deserves."
Costle said that only about $3.2 million remains in
the fund to respond to environmental emergencies and
that the fund could run out of money in the near
future. A supplemental appropriation of $21.3 million
submitted by the U.S. Coast Guard to replenish the
fund is now pending before Congress.
The fund — established under Section 311 of the
Clean Water Act — provides Federal funds for clean-up
of spills and other incidents involving the pollution
of waterways. (More comprehensive "superfund" legis-
lation now also being considered by Congress would,
by contrast, provide broader protection to include
incidents not involving waterways.)
R-6 3
(more)

-------
-2-
"The existence of the fund gives the Federal government the
capability to contain and clean up spills and other uncontrolled
discharges of chemicals and oil into U.S. waterways," Costle
said. "If Congress does not act swiftly on the supplemental
request, the Federal government will not be able to take
actions to protect the public health in an environmental
emergency. Should the fund be depleted -- which could occur
in a matter of weeks -- the public would not have the protection
Congress intended when it passed the 1977 Clean Water Act
and previous legislation."
"At this very moment, the Federal government is involved in
cleaning up a number of incidents that could have a severe
effect on the health of people and the environment," the
Administrator said. "These incidents alone could exhaust
the fund if carried to completion, even if no new emergencies
develop in the meantime. At the current rate of expenditure
for ongoing clean-up actions at three sites in Tennessee,
Pennsylvania and Indiana, costs could ultimately exceed $30
million. This is greatly in excess of what now remains in
the fund."
Section 311(k) of the Act provides that a fund of $35 million
be maintained for use by EPA and the Coast Guard to respond
to spills of oil and designated chemicals and other emergencies
involving water pollution. Congress intended that those
responsible for a spill would repay the fund, within the
limits of established liability, for any money used by the
Federal government in its response; hence, the fund is known
as a "revolving" fund. In practice, however, it is impossible
in some cases to determine who is responsible; in other
cases the responsible parties are able to tie up in court
the process of recovering clean-up costs. In such cases,
the costs are never recovered or, at best, are only partially
recovered by the government. Such situations have reduced
the amount of money available in the fund to deal with
future incidents.
Congress has acted several times in recent years to replenish
the fund when it was in danger of being depleted.
In the three incidents mentioned by Costle, money from the
Section 311 fund is being used to pay the costs of dealing
with serious environmental problems. At the Hollywood
chemical dump site in north Memphis, Tennessee, it could
cost over a million dollars to stop chemical discharges into
the Wolf River; up to $20 million could be needed to find a
permanent remedy. In Pittston, Pennsylvania, $10 million
may be needed to control the chemicals and oil that have
been seeping from an abandoned mine into the Susquehanna
River since mid-1979. Up to $800,000 will be needed to
abate the discharge of chemicals from a site in Seymour,
Indiana; at this site, about $500,000 from the fund has been
spent in the past two weeks alone.
Almost on a daily basis, new abandoned waste sites are
discovered or new spills occur that further compound existing
problems. These new incidents are occurring at a daily rate
that will make it difficult for the Federal government to
respond effectively to abate the immediate threat posed by
these sites and spills, even when the supplemental funds are
made available.
(more)

-------
-3-
Moreover, the Section 311 spill response program applies
only to incidents in which surface waters are contaminated.
"Superfund" legislation also pending before Congress would
enable the government to respond to other types of chemical
emergencies, too, since it would also apply to incidents
other than those affecting surface waters. In addition, it
would remedy the present funding problem by placing fees on
oil and certain chemicals. This would greatly reduce the
current dependence on the supplemental appropriations process.
EPA's spill response program requires that the Coast Guard
be notified immediately when a spill occurs. It also enables
EPA and the Coast Guard to take clean-up action if those
responsible for a spill do not respond adequately. Those
responsible are subject to fines of up to $250,000, in
addition to being liable to pay the government back for any
of its clean-up costs.
R-63
# # #

-------
Hea/•• -14--. * : ' • <^40
130 !		;ar. IW
WaSiUi'.uion i •':! j04
202-566-0656
Repository Materia!
Permanent Collection

&
^0909 "II 09VDIHD
is Naoaavaa s a£2
Aavaen a noi938
Vd 3
100 VOOOOOS68UO VZ800iVMVd30
SCO ONHUWH
v<«
pprf pua aSwotf
09>0ZDOU««5ums«M
OOC«
8
-------