Congress Takes New Look at Superfund's Many Woes Only 54 of More Than 1,200 Sites on Priority List Have Been Made Safe

Brad Knickerbocker, writer of The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor

IT seemed relatively simple in 1980: Identify the few hundred hazardous-waste sites around the country, charge the polluters a fee, and clean up the sites. End of problem.

But the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or "Superfund," has become an environmental, bureaucratic, and political nightmare. The list of potential problem sites has grown to about 35,000 and continues to grow. Of the more than 1,200 or so worst sites (those on the "National Priorities List"), just 54 have been cleaned up to the point at which they are off the list. And only another 164 have had cleanup construction completed despite tens of billions of dollars …

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Publication information: Article title: Congress Takes New Look at Superfund's Many Woes Only 54 of More Than 1,200 Sites on Priority List Have Been Made Safe. Contributors: Brad Knickerbocker, writer of The Christian Science Monitor - Author. Newspaper title: The Christian Science Monitor. Publication date: May 25, 1993. Page number: 2. © 2009 The Christian Science Publishing Society. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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