Probe of Superfund Charges Urged
California’s 27 Democratic members of the House of Representatives on Thursday called for a congressional investigation of allegations that Gov. George Deukmejian’s Administration has mismanaged money received from the federal Superfund program for toxic waste cleanup.
The Democrats, responding to a critical audit by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of the state’s handling of $28.5 million in toxic cleanup contracts, asked that two key congressional subcommittees investigate the charges contained in a report released earlier this month by the EPA inspector general.
The EPA auditors charged that state health department officials had failed to follow state and federal contracting rules--ignoring competitive bidding requirements or failing to negotiate for the lowest possible price in cases where competition was not required. The report questioned more than $4 million in payments because of rule violations that it said led to unreasonable or excessive costs.
Department spokesman William Ihle said that the Deukmejian Administration intends to correct any deficiencies.
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