EPA Agrees to ‘Insure’ Superfund Cleanup Firm

The Environmental Protection Agency agreed Thursday to protect an industry-led group from up to $10 million a year in legal damages that could stem from the group’s voluntary efforts to clean up Superfund hazardous waste sites.

Environmentalists charged that the agreement points to an overly cozy relationship between EPA and the industry it regulates, but the agency rejected that view.

The unique arrangement allows the EPA to pay damages assessed against the group, Clean Sites Inc., if the group is sued because of its role in planning Superfund cleanups. Such a suit could occur if, for example, a cleanup failed to remove all wastes and area residents were injured as a result.

No Private Insurance

The EPA said it is indemnifying the organization against lawsuit damages because private insurers so far have refused to insure the group and Clean Sites’ work could not proceed otherwise. The EPA does not indemnify any other private companies and consulting firms involved in removing wastes from the more than 750 Superfund sites, an agency spokesman said.

Agency officials described the arrangement as “extraordinarily limited” and said they doubted that the group would need to tap the insurance fund. But environmental groups quickly criticized the deal as evidence of EPA favoritism toward the chemical industry.

“The promise of Clean Sites was that it was going to bring private resources to bear on the hazardous waste problem. And yet here the industry is turning to the taxpayer to pick up some of its costs,” said Leslie Dach, legislative director for the National Audubon Society. “The Superfund already doesn’t have enough money to clean up life-threatening dump sites around the country.”

‘Bear Financial Risk’

“Why aren’t EPA attorneys enforcing settlements at Superfund sites instead of figuring out ways to let industry off the hook?” said Eric Draper, a spokesman for the National Campaign Against Toxic Hazards. “If the chemical industry wants to use Clean Sites to polish its image, then let them also bear the financial risk.”

Clean Sites, a nonprofit coalition of chemical makers and environmental groups based in suburban Washington, receives much of its $22-million budget from chemical-industry contributions. It was founded last May to promote voluntary cleanups of toxic waste sites by industry, supposedly reducing the need for federal money and legal action to force the costly cleanups to go forward.

The arrangement announced Thursday allows the EPA to pay up to $5 million in legal damages at any one Superfund site, and a maximum of $10 million a year, if Clean Sites is successfully sued over its cleanup efforts.

‘Special Privilege’ Denied

Clean Sites spokesman Robert SanGeorge said the lawsuit protection is not a “special privilege” from EPA but merely “something that would help us become fully effective.” Without legal protection, the group’s plans to negotiate voluntary cleanups at about 20 Superfund sites this spring could not proceed, he said.

SanGeorge also noted that Clean Sites’ founders include several respected environmentalists and conservation groups, including the Conservation Foundation and the National Wildlife Federation.