The Superfund program is already underfunded. It has been ever since 2003, years after Congress let expire the so-called “Superfund tax” on oil and gas companies, which was able to raise billions for cleanup per year. But now, the Superfund program only operates on about $1 billion per year in federal dollars. “Losing even that minimal amount of funding will essentially bring the program to a halt,” Loeb said.
But even in the best-case budget scenario, where the 25 percent cut to Superfund is not realized, Loeb and others worry about Pruitt’s plan for the sites. That’s because Pruitt, who has a history of close and friendly ties to polluting industries, has said he will prioritize Superfunds by handling negotiations with polluters himself. According to the EPA’s press release, his directive this month puts “the decision of how to clean up the sites directly into the hands of the Administrator,” rather than other members of the bureaucracy.
That directive is “quite disheartening,” said Peter deFur, an environmental consultant and Superfund cleanup expert. Both deFur and Loeb expressed concern that Pruitt would be more lenient when negotiating cleanup deals with polluters, allowing them to pay less for plans that are less comprehensive. “There is grave concern in the environmental community, myself included, that what Pruitt will do is get faster but much less rigorous cleanup,” Loeb said. DeFur agreed. “I’m not sure that Pruitt’s idea of improving the program and mine would agree at all,” he said. “To me, improving the program means more aggressive cleanups that move contamination to lower levels, and more aggressive pursuit of potentially responsible parties. What does Pruitt mean by improve?”
The EPA’s spokespeople did not respond to my request for clarification on that point, but late afternoon on Monday the agency issued a press release announcing a new “Superfund Task Force,” which it said was part of Pruitt’s “continued effort to prioritize Superfund cleanups.” That task force is expected to provide recommendations in 30 days on how the EPA can “streamline” the Superfund program—perhaps a coded way to insist it can operate more efficiently on less money. It’s not clear yet how Pruitt’s EPA would do that—apparently we’ll find out in a month—but the press release gave some vague indications, including “incentivizing parties to remediate sites” and “encouraging private investment in cleanups and sites.”
The polluting companies themselves have reason to believe Pruitt will be more lenient. Last week, the New York Times reported that the oil and gas company Devon Energy, which donated thousands to Pruitt when he was Oklahoma’s attorney general, recently stepped away from an environmental settlement it had planned to sign with the Obama administration. According to the Times, the company “had been prepared to install a sophisticated system to detect and reduce leaks of dangerous gases” for one of its gas plants, and “had also discussed paying a six-figure penalty to settle claims by the Obama administration that it was illegally emitting 80 tons each year of hazardous chemicals, like benzene, a known carcinogen.” After Pruitt took office, though, Devon said it was “re-evaluating its settlement posture,” and would no longer install emissions controls or pay a large fine. Devon Energy has also strongly opposed the effort to renew the Superfund tax on energy companies.
The revelations about Devon worry cleanup advocates like Loeb. “I’m really concerned that Pruitt will make quick deals with companies, and they will be superficial and inadequate cleanups,” she said. But she still holds out some hope that Pruitt will keep his promises. “Superfund is an area that is absolutely essential,” the administrator said in March. As with the word “improve,” it remains to be seen what exactly he means by “essential.”
