The Nation : Superfund Schedule Fails

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, with its Republican minority playing a crucial role, refused to impose a mandatory cleanup schedule on the Superfund toxic waste abatement effort. With Congress facing an Oct. 1 deadline for renewing Superfund, the panel voted 26 to 16 against a plan to force the Environmental Protection Agency to begin cleaning up at least 600 chemical dumps by 1990. Supporters of a schedule said it was necessary to produce more intensive EPA action against leaking toxic dumps. But opponents argued it would deny the agency needed flexibility to deal with complex chemical mixes found at many sites.