Superfund sites, including three in I-81 corridor, could get cleanup funding boost

WASHINGTON – Three Superfund sites along the Interstate 81 corridor in Maryland and Pennsylvania are among the more than one thousand sites nationwide that could be getting an infusion of cash.

The sweeping health care and climate change bill the House was expected to pass Friday and send on to President Joe Biden would reinstate a long-expired tax on oil companies to help cover the cost of cleaning up some of the nation's most toxic sites.

The Central Chemical site in Hagerstown and two sites at Letterkenney Army Depot north of Chambersburg, Pa., are on the list of some 1,300 Superfund sites dotting the nation, many of which have languished on the to-do list since Congress created the program more than 40 years ago. But money for cleanups has slowed significantly since the primary funding source (which included oil taxes) lapsed in 1995.

"This would be a really great step in the right direction to make sure that the Superfund program is fully funded," said Emily Rogers, Zero Out Toxics Advocate for U.S. PIRG, a non-profit environmental advocacy group. "And in doing so, we're protecting not only the environment, but also public health from toxic waste sites."

With that spigot turning back on again, there will be an influx of money to address those sites. But experts caution not to expect major progress overnight given the scope of work that needs to be performed.

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How does the Superfund program work?

Superfund sites, which include abandoned industrial sites, mining operations and military depots, have been linked to high cancer risks as well as other diseases.

Congress created the program in 1980 after a series of hazardous waste mishaps, most notably in the Love Canal area of Niagara Falls, N.Y., which reported an alarming rise in skin rashes, miscarriages, and birth defects following toxic exposure.

How many people live near Superfund sites?

There are more than 1,800 active or deleted sites. About one of every six Americans – 73 million – lives within three miles of one, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

What's the latest on the Superfund sites in Washington County, Md., and Franklin County, Pa.?

The Central Chemical Superfund Site is on Mitchell Avenue in Hagerstown. According to the EPA, the site was home to a blending and packaging facility for agricultural pesticides and fertilizers starting in the 1930s. Pesticides and fertilizers manufactured at other locations were blended at the site with inert materials to produce commercial-grade products. Most of the pesticide product blending ceased in 1965. All operations at the plant stopped in 1984.

To help clean up the site, the EPA said it started construction on a groundwater treatment plant in 2021, and the work should be done this year. The next phase involves "stabilizing" waste material in a lagoon on the property, according to the government.

The The Letterkenny Army Depot Property Disposal Office Area and the Southeast Area sites are on the still active military site roughly 5 miles north of Chambersburg.

The U.S. Army established the 19,243-acre facility in 1942 for ammunition storage, according to the EPA. In 1947, the site expanded to include testing, maintenance and overhaul of vehicles and missiles; the storage and transportation of industrial chemicals and petroleum; and storage, maintenance, demilitarization and modification of ammunition.

Both sites were put on the Superfund list in 1987 and include remediating contaminated soil, groundwater, sediment and surface water with hazardous chemicals at both locations. Some remediation has been done at both sites, and because the sites are still active, some work is ongoing, the EPA said.

How was the program funded?

To pay for the program, lawmakers slapped a "polluters pay" tax on chemical and petroleum companies. 

The revenue raised was supposed to be in addition to money collected from those responsible for the actual disasters, though many of those businesses either fought in court or went bankrupt. In the case of those "orphan" sites, general tax money has been used for cleanups.

Shortly after those taxes expired, the Superfund Trust Fund reached its peak balance of $4.7 billion in 1997 and then began declining the following year. At the start of the current fiscal year, the trust had a balance of $67 million, according to U.S. PIRG.

How many sites get cleaned up each year?

During the 1990s, when the Superfund Trust Fund enjoyed its highest balance, work was completed on an average of 71 sites per year. That annual average fell to 34 from 2001 to 2010 and then 12 from 2011 to 2020. In the 2021 fiscal year, construction was completed at only eight sites, according to PIRG.

"The number of cleanups slowed to a mere trickle," Rogers said.

The decline in money and clean-up activity tracks with the expiration of the taxes 27 years ago. Congress re-imposed the tax on chemical companies last year.

How could the Inflation Reduction Act help clean up sites?

In the Inflation Reduction Act the House was taking up Friday, the per-barrel tax on oil is not only being reinstated for the next 10 years, it's nearly doubling from 9.7 cents to 16.4 cents and will be indexed to inflation beyond that.

The oil industry has consistently opposed the tax, saying its reimposition would be "unfair (and) not necessary" since 70% of clean-up costs are being covered by responsible parties.

"Congress has appropriately recognized the cost as a broad societal problem and provided general revenues for cleanups," the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, said in a statement. "Moreover, reinstating the Superfund taxes could result in higher energy costs to hard-working Americans who already struggle to make ends meet."

Will more money help?

While more revenue from the taxes seemingly enhances the EPA's ability to start new cleanups and speed up ones already in progress, it's likely to take some time before that happens, said Kate Probst, an environmental consultant and expert on Superfund policies.

Congress must authorize the amount of funding for Superfund programs each year, so they still could limit how much work gets done no matter how much tax revenue comes in, she said. Lawmakers could, for instance, simply replace – rather than supplement – the annual appropriation they've been providing for Superfund cleanups so they can spend more on other government programs.

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And even extra money doesn't automatically mean sped up projects. The EPA lost hundreds of experienced scientists and regulators during President Donald Trump's administration, and it takes time to train and reload the agency's capabilities, Probst said.

"They need humans to do the contract work to get the money out. They need humans to manage these projects. So there are concerns that even with increased funding, you can't double this program by tomorrow," she said. "That is not the way it works."

How is climate change threatening Superfund cleanups?

The reinstatement of the Superfund taxes comes several months after Congress approved a one-time $3.5 billion allocation to the program as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. The EPA announced it would use $1 billion of that money to clear a backlog of 49 previously unfunded Superfund sites and accelerate cleanup at dozens of other sites across the country.

The timing could not be more pressing, experts said.

Climate change could increase the frequency and intensity of certain natural disasters, which could damage Superfund sites, according to the Government Accountability Office, Congress' watchdog arm.

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"Federal data suggests about 60 percent of Superfund sites overseen by EPA are in areas that may be impacted by wildfires and different types of flooding — natural hazards that may be exacerbated by climate change," a 2019 GAO report concluded.

That was the same year a "bomb cyclone" storm pummeled a large swath of the Midwest with heavy snow, drenching rains and historic flooding that made Superfund waste sites inaccessible.