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Executive Summary

To address the public health threats cause by toxic waste sites, Congress established the nations premier toxic cleanup program, the Superfund, in 1980. Congress designed a funding structure for Superfund that placed the financial burden of cleaning up toxic contamination on the polluters by collecting three established fees from polluting industries. Collectively, the three fees, known as the Superfund “polluter pays” fees, relieved regular taxpayers from paying for toxic cleanups by compelling polluting industries to take financial responsibility for cleaning up toxic waste sites.

In 1995, Superfund’s polluter pays fees expired. Since then, the financial burden to clean up toxic waste has shifted entirely from polluters to regular taxpayers. Taxpayers now pay for all Superfund-led toxic cleanups, spending well over $1 billion annually to protect public health from the irresponsible business practices of polluting industries. While taxpayers in every state spend valuable public dollars on these cleanups (see attached table), polluting industries are enjoying a $4 million per day tax break and proving that there is such a thing as a free lunch. In order to shift the financial burden of toxic waste cleanups from taxpayers back on to polluters, Congress must act the reinstate Superfund’s polluter pays fees.