ADVERTISEMENT
EPA Gives $27M to Superfund Cleanup08-01-02 | News
img
 
WASHINGTON ?EUR??,,????'??? The Environmental Protection Agency has cleared payments to clean up a third of the toxic waste sites for which financing had been delayed this year. Agency officials recently announced that $27 million was available to clean up 11 of 33 Superfund sites in 18 states that an EPA inspector general?EUR??,,????'???s report identified as having received no money as of May. Congress established the Superfund program in 1980 to locate, investigate and clean up the worst areas nationwide where chemical dumping over the decades had created dangerous health conditions. The EPA administers the program in cooperation with states and tribal governments. Every three months, EPA releases checks to be used for Superfund cleanups. The inspector general?EUR??,,????'???s report was based on numbers before the latest round of checks went out. In addition, Congress requires the EPA to hold back from the $1.3 billion program $100 million to be distributed in September, the last month of the government?EUR??,,????'???s fiscal year. That is to ensure allocations are made throughout the year. Congressional Democrats argue that the agency is cutting back the program under the Bush administration. EPA spokesman Joe Martyak insisted Monday, however, ?EUR??,,????'??There?EUR??,,????'???s no construction work that is going to stop.?EUR??,,????'?? The 11 sites that received the latest money are the Combe Fill South Landfill site, Chester Township, N.J., $1.4 million; the GCL Tie and Treating site, Sidney, N.Y., $2.5 million; the Tutu Wellfield site, Tutu, V.I.; $5.6 million; the American Creosote Works site, Pensacola, Fla., $2.7 million; the Ross Metals site, Rossville, Tenn., $3 million; the Aircraft Components site, Benton Harbor, Mich., $1.5 million; the Hudson Refinery site, Cushing, Okla., $3 million; the Sprague Road site, Odessa, Texas, $4 million; and the 10th Street site, Columbus, Neb., $1 million; and two mining areas in Montana, one near Basin, $1.3 million, and the other, Upper Ten Mile Creek, near Helena, $1 million. Another five of the 33 sites do not currently need more money, EPA officials said.
img