March 12, 2004

Contact: Arthur Stamoulis
(215) 567-4004 ext. 222

COMMUNITY GROUPS, ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES:
SENS. SPECTER AND SANTORUM VOTE AGAINST PENNSYLVANIANS THREATENED BY TOXIC WASTE

Philadelphia, PA - Public health and environmental advocates blasted Pennsylvania Senators Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum today for voting against a budget resolution amendment yesterday that would have made polluting industries pay to clean up the nation's worst toxic waste sites. The vote to reinstate the Superfund "polluter pays" tax was defeated by 44 to 52, with four supporters absent and unable to cast votes.

Superfund is the nation's leading toxic waste cleanup program. Once highly successful, the program has been hurting for funds since the "polluter-pays" tax on industry that used to fund it was allowed to expire in 1995. There are 93 toxic waste sites in Pennsylvania on the Superfund program's "National Priorities List," including the Watson Johnson Landfill in Bucks County, the North Penn Area 6 site in Montgomery County and the Franklin Slag Pile in Philadelphia County. Environmental advocates argue that the pace and thoroughness of clean up at these sites will be negatively impacted by funding shortfalls.

"Communities saddled with toxic waste sites deserve the money to clean up those sites quickly and completely. With this vote, Senators Specter and Santorum send the message to all Pennsylvanians, 'If you want clean and healthy neighborhoods, pay for it yourself,'" said Joseph Otis Minott, Executive Director of Clean Air Council, a statewide environmental group. "Ordinary people didn't create these messes. Ordinary people shouldn't have to pay to clean them up. Clean Air Council is extremely disappointed that Pennsylvania's Senators decided to side with polluters over the well-being of their constituents."

"If polluters aren't going to pay to clean up the toxic waste in our communities, who is? It is extremely disappointing that Senators Specter and Santorum chose to vote against holding industry responsible for cleaning up its pollution," said Pat Kozlowski, Director of the Port Richmond on Patrol and Civic Association (PROPAC) community group.

"Communities contaminated by toxic waste are going to be waiting a lot longer for cleanup because of this shameful vote," said Anna Smith, Conservation Chair of the Bucks County Sierra Club. "Senators Specter and Santorum turned their backs on the ordinary taxpayer."

Since the "polluter pays" tax on corporations was allowed to expire, the Superfund Trust Fund has been gradually depleted, and is expected to go virtually bankrupt this year. With little money from polluters available, the costs of cleaning up toxic waste have shifted to taxpayers.

Last month, the General Accounting Office found that overall program funding has declined 35 percent since 1993. The EPA Inspector General recently reported that 29 cleanup projects did not receive significant funding in 2003.

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For more information on Superfund in Pennsylvania, please visit:
http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/superfund.pdf

See also the National Environmental Trust report
Superfund and the Polluter Pays Tax: How the Funding Crisis Affects America's Worst Toxic Waste Sites
Online at: http://www.net.org/superfund/Superfund_Report.pdf