The Nation - News from Nov. 18, 1988

The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled, 19 months late, a massive draft revision of regulations that could give states and polluters more say in whether toxic waste sites are put into the Superfund cleanup program. The agency said it “got what we wanted” in a long battle with the Office of Management and Budget over cleanup standards. Superfund provides money for cleanups only for sites that the program has placed on a “national priority list,” currently containing 1,175 sites out of 30,013 possible. Such a listing also qualifies communities for federal health studies and grants to community groups and local governments to pay for their participation in site discussions. States contribute 10% to cleanup costs, direct many cleanups under EPA oversight, and sometimes clean up sites that never make the federal program at all. Companies responsible for disposal of the waste in the first place also are handling many cleanups. EPA’s proposed regulations would permit the agency not to list sites if a state petitions to handle the cleanup on its own.