WASHINGTON, DC– U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., issued the following statement in response to the release of the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) report on the status of Superfund cleanups. Last year, Booker and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, requested that the GAO assess what progress has been made to clean up Superfund sites in the wake of a 2010 GAO report that showed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not have adequate funding to clean up these toxic sites.

The GAO report released today reveals that federal funding is at an all-time low when adjusted for inflation. While funding declined, the number of the most seriously contaminated sites increased from 1,054 in 1999 to 1,158 in 2013, and the number of construction completions declined by 84 percent over the same time period.  

“Every day, innocent Americans suffer the physical and financial consequences of living close to severely contaminated Superfund sites. This GAO report shows that the federal government has consistently failed to meet its responsibility to protect the health and well-being of American families living near these sites. This report also underscores the urgent need for Congress to increase funding for Superfund cleanups -- but taxpayers should not have to finance the cleanup of a mess they did not create.


“I am working to reintroduce legislation that will correct this injustice and to ensure polluting industries bear the responsibility of restoring Superfund sites back to safe, healthy, thriving areas that can attract investment and economic development. The number of Superfund sites in New Jersey makes this issue tremendously important to families and communities in our state.”


The Superfund program cleans up extremely contaminated properties either by forcing the responsible parties to clean-up the contamination or by using government resources to clean up the property. Families living near Superfund sites, which are contaminated with toxins such as arsenic, benzene, lead and mercury, have heightened risks for a number of serious health problems including birth defects and autism. Nationally, 13 percent of the population lives within three miles of a Superfund site; in New Jersey, 50 percent of the population lives within three miles -- the highest percentage in any state.

 

 

GAO’s full report can be viewed here.