Superfund: Litigation Has Decreased and EPA Needs Better Information on Site Cleanup and Cost Issues to Estimate Future Program Funding Requirements

In a July 2009 report (GAO-09-656), GAO recommended that, to assist the Congress in making decisions about funding the Superfund program, EPA should assess the comprehensiveness and reliability of the data the agency collects and, where necessary, improve the data for the purposes of providing aggregated information on the following issues: (1) the status and cost of cleanups at individual sites, particularly complex and expensive sites; (2) the extent to which there are viable responsible parties at NPL sites; and (3) the potential financial impacts from EPA's inability to obtain reimbursement for agency cleanup costs from nonviable responsible parties. GAO found that key EPA Superfund data related to these issues were not consistently comprehensive, reliable, or capable of being aggregated to provide clear program-wide information. As a result, GAO found that EPA could not provide clear information on the amount of work remaining at Superfund sites overall or the potential financial liabilities faced by the government based on the extent of nonviable responsible parties, which could make it difficult for Congress to assess financial constraints faced by the Superfund program when making decisions about program funding or policy issues. In May 2011, EPA launched the Integrated Cleanup Initiative, an effort to identify and implement improvements to the agency's land cleanup programs. As part of this initiative EPA developed a new measure of Superfund site cleanup status representing remedial action projects completed. EPA began reporting aggregated data on this new measure in its fiscal year 2011 Superfund National Accomplishments Summary. In addition, EPA reported that it assessed the feasibility of developing estimates of the extent to which nonviable responsible parties might impact the cost recovery potential of current or future Superfund site cleanups. EPA reported that, based on its analysis, the agency would generally not feel the cost recovery impacts of nonviable responsible parties until a period of time beyond the current budget and strategic planning cycle. Consequently, EPA reported that, while it assessed the feasibility of improving the data it collects, the agency did not think it prudent to devote limited resources to developing additional estimates or data elements given competing fiscal pressures at this time. GAO recognizes the current budget realities faced by EPA and other federal agencies, and the steps EPA has taken to consider whether more comprehensive and reliable data could be developed to communicate the status of cleanups and potential future funding liabilities of the Superfund program. GAO also notes that, given the budget constraints faced by the federal government, continued efforts to consider how to improve the data provided to Congress on federal financial liabilities will be important in making future funding decisions concerning the Superfund program.

In a July 2009 report (GAO-09-656), GAO recommended that, to assist the Congress in making decisions about funding the Superfund program, EPA should assess the comprehensiveness and reliability of the data the agency collects concerning key issues related to the status and cost of site cleanups and that EPA should include such aggregated data in the agency's annual accomplishment reports. GAO found that key EPA data related to Superfund site cleanups were not consistently comprehensive, reliable, or capable of being aggregated to provide clear program-wide information. As a result, GAO found that EPA could not provide clear information on the amount of work remaining at Superfund sites overall, which could make it difficult for Congress to assess financial constraints faced by the Superfund program when making decisions about program funding or policy issues. In May 2011, EPA launched the Integrated Cleanup Initiative, an effort to identify and implement improvements to the agency's land cleanup programs. As part of this initiative EPA developed a new measure of Superfund site cleanup status representing remedial action projects completed. EPA began reporting aggregated data on this new measure in its fiscal year 2011 Superfund National Accomplishments Summary.