EPA seeks reinstatement of Superfund taxes

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has sent to
Congress a draft legislative proposal to reinstate the taxes once imposed on
the oil and chemical industries to support the federal Superfund program. In a
letter sent to House and Senate leaders, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
characterized the proposal as a move towards fiscal responsibility, saying it
“would ensure that parties who benefit from the manufacture or sale of
substances commonly found in contaminated sites contribute to the cost of
cleanup.” She estimated that reinstating the Superfund tax could raise $18.9
billion over 10 years. The tax was allowed to expire in 1995 and has not been
reinstated since.

Representatives of the petrochemical industry were quick
to express opposition to EPA’s legislative proposal, describing it as a
political move calculated to take advantage of public anger about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The industry has already paid
billions of dollars to clean up Superfund sites, said Charles Drevna, president
of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. “Now they want us to
pay billions more. It makes for a great headline for politicians and the
administration to say, ‘We’re going to make polluters pay.’ Who’s going to be
against that?”