DENVER—American
taxpayers will pay more than $1.2 billion to clean up after polluters
at Superfund toxic waste sites across the country in 2006, according to
a new analysis released today by Environment Colorado.
This
marks the 11th year that taxpayers will pay to protect the health of
the one in four Americans living within four miles of a Superfund site
instead of polluters, as the program intended.
Superfund’s
polluter fees once collected money from polluters to clean toxic waste
sites. New data complied by Environment Colorado reveals that, since
these fees expired in 1995, the cost to taxpayers to clean up after
polluters at toxic waste sites has increased by 427percent.
“On
April 17th Americans will pay our taxes, but polluters will be once
again excused from paying theirs,” said Matthew Garrington, Field
Organizer for Environment Colorado. “By refusing to reinstate the
polluter fees, the federal government has opted to charge regular
taxpayers, instead of polluters, for the costs of toxic waste
cleanups,” said Garrington.
Environment
Colorado’s data reveals that Colorado taxpayers will pay $22,913,252 in
2006 to clean up after polluters. Despite this heavy reliance on
taxpayer funding, without the income provided by the polluter pays
fees, the Superfund program does not receive enough money to adequately
protect public health from toxic waste sites.
While
Superfund cleanup needs grow, program financing remains stagnant,
creating funding shortfalls that delay critical toxic cleanups and
jeopardize public health. In 2005, the EPA cleaned only 40 sites, a
significant departure from the average of 77 cleaned sites each year
between 1992 and 2000. If funding shortfalls persist, the number of
cleaned toxic sites will continue to drop. Reinstating the polluter
fees will provide a dedicated source of money and shift the costs of
toxic cleanups back to polluters.
“At
a time of record budget deficits, the exclusive use of scarce taxpayer
dollars to pay a cost that should be borne by polluters is fiscally
reckless,” said Garrington. “Congress and the Bush Administration’s
refusal to shift cleanup costs back to polluting industries is a
reprehensible policy and amounts to nothing more than polluter
welfare.”
