The EPA is supporting a reinstatement of the Superfund “polluter pays” tax, according to an agency press release. Superfund is the federal government’s program that investigates and cleans up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites.
According to the agency, the provision would provide a stable, dedicated source of revenue for the program and increase the pace of Superfund cleanup. The tax was allowed to lapse in 1995. According to a Bloomberg report, Congress has provided $1.2 billion a year since then to fund cleanup of the sites, though costs usually run to $3 billion.
The administration is proposing to reinstate the taxes as they were last in effect on crude oil, imported petroleum products, hazardous chemicals, and imported substances that use hazardous chemicals as a feedstock, and on corporate modified alternative minimum taxable income. Under the administration’s proposal, the excise taxes and corporate environmental taxes would be reinstated for a period of 10 years beginning in January 2011.