More Superfund money is being directed at overhead costs than at actual cleanup, according to the minority counsel with the U.S. House of Representatives.
Keith Cole’s observation came as little surprise to delegates at the 99th annual convention of the Northwest Mining Association. They are all too familiar with the costly and often inefficient way the agency manages its environmental cleanup mandate.
Describing Superfund as a “a program in crisis,” Cole pointed out that even though more money is being spent, it is not doing what Superfund was set up to do.
(Superfund is a program whereby companies whose activities impinge on the natural environment set aside money to finance cleaning up contaminated waste sites.)
In a question-and-answer session, the former Seattle attorney said the major problem was the lack of a clear statement or set of goals.
“Do we clean it up to the last molecule or what?” Cole said. “There is no point at which you can say that type of cleanup is not in the mission statement. There is no mission statement.”
He said Superfund needs to be reauthorized as soon as possible and that it may take two years to do so.
“U.S. President Bill Clinton has said he’d like Superfund to clean up pollution, not just pay lawyers,” Cole said, adding that, so far, comments by administrators from the Environmental Protection Agency have been inconsistent and incoherent.
Be the first to comment on "Superfund dollars going astray"