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Guest
Thursday, March 8, 2007
5. SUPERFUND: Approps, not corporate tax, key to funding cleanups -- EPA chief
Lucy Kafanov, E&ENews PM reporter
Reinstating a tax to guarantee a steady flow of cash to U.S. EPA's Superfund program would not help the agency clean up contaminated land, the agency's administrator told House lawmakers today. The Superfund program once relied on a special corporate environmental tax to pay for cleanups, but Congress let the tax law expire in 1995. Several Democrats are pushing to reinstate the tax on oil and chemical industries.
Speaking to two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees, Administrator Stephen Johnson said the tax would not help the agency because it would not guarantee an increase in Superfund appropriations. "The amount of funds appropriated by Congress never matched the amount of funds coming in for the tax," Johnson said. "The appropriation level has remained relatively constant ... while tax revenue has gone way up in the early days."
When Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) later questioned the administrator about why the White House did not ask for more money to clean up leaking underground storage tanks -- given a surplus in a fund designated to pay for such cleanups -- Johnson again cited appropriations. At issue is an EPA fund established in 1986 to help pay for underground-tank cleanups. The fund is fed by a 0.001 of a cent per gallon tax on motor fuel and currently boasts a $2.6 billion surplus. The Bush administration asked Congress for $72.4 million for the program. "This is a prime example of why we don't want the Superfund tax," Johnson told lawmakers. "While the revenues have gone up Congress has appropriated considerably less money."
:multiplespotting:
JR
5. SUPERFUND: Approps, not corporate tax, key to funding cleanups -- EPA chief
Lucy Kafanov, E&ENews PM reporter
Reinstating a tax to guarantee a steady flow of cash to U.S. EPA's Superfund program would not help the agency clean up contaminated land, the agency's administrator told House lawmakers today. The Superfund program once relied on a special corporate environmental tax to pay for cleanups, but Congress let the tax law expire in 1995. Several Democrats are pushing to reinstate the tax on oil and chemical industries.
Speaking to two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees, Administrator Stephen Johnson said the tax would not help the agency because it would not guarantee an increase in Superfund appropriations. "The amount of funds appropriated by Congress never matched the amount of funds coming in for the tax," Johnson said. "The appropriation level has remained relatively constant ... while tax revenue has gone way up in the early days."
When Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) later questioned the administrator about why the White House did not ask for more money to clean up leaking underground storage tanks -- given a surplus in a fund designated to pay for such cleanups -- Johnson again cited appropriations. At issue is an EPA fund established in 1986 to help pay for underground-tank cleanups. The fund is fed by a 0.001 of a cent per gallon tax on motor fuel and currently boasts a $2.6 billion surplus. The Bush administration asked Congress for $72.4 million for the program. "This is a prime example of why we don't want the Superfund tax," Johnson told lawmakers. "While the revenues have gone up Congress has appropriated considerably less money."
:multiplespotting:
JR
