Report Brings Call to Overhaul Superfund

An increasing amount of Superfund money set aside for cleaning up the country’s worst hazardous waste sites is being spent on administrative costs and support functions, according to a government report. The new data about the Environmental Protection Agency’s program triggered fresh calls from congressional Republicans for an overhaul of the Superfund program, which was budgeted this year at $1.5 billion. According to an advance copy of a General Accounting Office report, the Superfund program, started in 1980, allocated an additional $56 million, or 3.2% more of its budget, in fiscal year 1997 than in 1996 for administrative overhead.