
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 21, 1993                   TAG: 9306210022
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

POLLUTERS DUCK CLEANUP COSTS

The government already has written off $270 million that it was supposed to charge polluters for cleanup of the nation's worst toxic waste sites and faces absorbing hundreds of millions more, an Associated Press review has found.

The Environmental Protection Agency says that in many cases the polluters have disappeared or are unable to pay. In others, it says it simply lacks the manpower or evidence to file lawsuits.

The situation appears to be worsening for the Superfund program, which Congress created 13 years ago with the intention that polluters - not taxpayers - pay for cleanup of hazardous sites.

"The number of cases that are eligible for cost recovery greatly exceeds the capacity of available resources," Richard Guimond, acting assistant administrator for Superfund, wrote in a March 26 memo.

"This situation is likely to become more difficult in the near future."

Internal EPA figures obtained by the AP show the agency has recovered only $843 million - or less than one-fifth - of the $4.3 billion in cleanup costs that could be recovered from polluters under the current law:

$829 million is tied up in litigation or bankruptcy court.

$270 million has been written off with no chance of recovery.

$2.3 billion has yet to be pursued, with the deadline for suing for recovery in most of those cases expiring in the next few years.

The statute of limitation in Superfund cases, which is six years from the start of a cleanup, makes it impossible to go after polluters after the deadline has passed.

Chad Littleton, a Superfund program analyst, said EPA expects to write off another $170 million next year, as well as 30 percent to 50 percent of other pending cases.

EPA has decided not to pursue most cases in which the potential recovery is below $200,000, because of high legal costs.

EPA Administrator Carol Browner recently directed a task force to figure out ways to handle cost recovery more efficiently.

But critics aren't convinced the agency has done all it can.

"I can't imagine the government not trying to collect every penny from corporate polluters," said Charles Lewis, executive director of the government watchdog Center for Public Integrity.

"Cost recoveries were not always vigorously pursued or maximized," said a report by EPA Inspector General John Martin.

According to records, there are 304 pending Superfund cases over $200,000 in which the statute of limitations expires in two years. But the agency estimates it has resources to handle just over half the cases, according to Linda Boornazian, deputy division director for Superfund enforcement.

by CNB