Superfund Trust Fund Recovery Register

PROBLEM: About 70 percent of Superfund cleanup has historically been paid by the potentially responsible parties — the polluter-pays principle. The other 30 percent of the time, the responsible party cannot be found or cannot pay, and the Superfund trust fund — financed by excise taxes on the petroleum and chemical industries — pays instead. The trust fund is the backstop, and its recoveries from responsible parties afterward are how the backstop is replenished. There is no single register showing what the fund paid, what it recovered, and what is still owed.

SOLUTION: A Superfund trust fund recovery register: every fund-financed cleanup logged with its cost, the responsible parties pursued, and the amounts recovered, with unrecovered costs flagged — so the public backstop's balance is a record, not a guess.

EVIDENCE BASIS: DOCUMENTED — about 70% of cleanup paid by PRPs; trust fund pays when PRPs cannot be found or cannot pay; fund financed by excise taxes on petroleum/chemical industries; sources: Wikipedia "Superfund"; EBSCO.