Superfund Fact Book
Mark Reisch & David Michael Bearden

Table of Contents for this section

Appropriations
Number of Sites
Endnotes
Glossary of Superfund Terms [external]

List of Tables

Table 3. Superfund Appropriations: FY1981-FY1998 Request

List of Figures

Figure 1. Superfund Appropriations from FY1981-FY1998 Request
Figure 2. FY1997 Superfund Appropriations

Appropriations

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers the Superfund program, and Congress appropriates the program's annual operating budget from the Superfund Trust Fund in the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies appropriations bill. EPA does not have other access to the trust fund. The same appropriations bill also provides monies from the trust fund for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and for the Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Superfund-related activities of the Departments of Justice and Interior, the Atmospheric Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

· Congress authorized a total of $1.6 billion for Superfund from FY1981 to FY1985, a total of $8.5 billion from FY1986 to FY1991, and a total of $5.1 billion from FY1992 to FY1994.

· For FY1981, Congress enacted appropriations of $40.3 million for Superfund, and for FY1997, enacted appropriations of $1.5 billion. From FY1981 through FY1997, Congress enacted appropriations totalling $17.9 billion. (See table 3 and figure 1.) The FY1998 Administration request is $2.2 billion.

· For the FY1997 enacted level of $1.5 billion, roughly 68.4% of the appropriation is allocated for EPA response actions, 9.7% for interagency response, 2.3% for research, 11.3% for enforcement, and 8.3% for program management. (See figure 2.)

· Environmental restoration, of which Superfund spending is a part, is an expanding portion of the federal environmental budget. In addition to Superfund, there are federal facility cleanup and restoration programs at the Departments of Defense, Energy, and the Interior. (Refer here for a discussion of federal facilities cleanup under the jurisdiction of these agencies.)

Table 3. Superfund Appropriations: FY1981-FY1998 Request
(millions of dollars)

Source: Prepared by CRS using EPA budget justification documents.

Figure 1

Superfund Appropriations From FY1981-Fyi 998 Request

Prepared by CR5 using data from EPA budget jusilficallon documents.

Figure 2

FY 1997 Superfund Appropriation

Total = $1.5 Billion

Prepared by CRS using EPA Budget justification document

Number of Sites

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS) tracks sites that are brought to EPA's attention that may warrant cleanup. A site's presence on CERCLIS does not determine a party's liability for cleanup and does not indicate that cleanup is required^.6 However, listing a site on CERCLIS reportedly at times has carried a stigma by association with the Superfund program, which has interfered with the sale or development of properties.⁷

EPA had not removed any sites from CERCLIS until March29, 1995, when the list numbered about 40,000 locations. At that time, as part of EPA's brownfields agenda, it began archiving sites it designated as No Further Response Action Planned (NFRAP). As of September 30, 1996, EPA had reduced the total number of sites in CERCLIS to 12,657 through transferring 28,008 NFRAP sites to the archived listing.

Endnotes

6 40 CFR 300.5. "Definitions."

7 EPA. Federal Register. March 29, 1995. p.16053.