Inhofe slams EPA push to revive Superfund taxes

By Puneet Kollipara
The Hill
Jul. 11, 2010

Basically they're going to tax everyone to pay for some slush fund which will be used (supposedly) to bailout whatever incompetent corporation is actually liable. So basically they're creating even more incentives for companies to take even more excessive risks because someone else will pay for their damages. Brilliant. - ChrisThe top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday accused the Obama administration of exploiting the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to seek political traction for taxes on petroleum companies.

The comments by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) come a day after the U.S. EPA called for reinstatement of lapsed taxes on oil companies and chemical makers used to fund hazardous waste site cleanups through the federal Superfund program.

Inhofe, speaking at a hearing on Superfund, said the administration's support for reviving the taxes was muted until the Gulf oil spill.

“The spill has changed that,” Inhofe said. “Now they feel the political climate is right to tax oil and gas companies.”



It's just one piece of evidence, he added, to support the notion that the Obama administration “has exploited the BP spill to pursue a radical agenda to shut down America's domestic production of oil and gas.”

Inhofe made the comments at a hearing of the Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health Subcommittee. The taxes that support the federal Superfund Trust Fund lapsed in 1995, and repeated efforts to revive them have faltered in Congress.

The fund is used for hazardous waste site cleanups in cases where the responsible parties can’t be located or can’t pay. EPA on Monday sent House and Senate lawmakers proposed legislation to reinstate the taxes.

The agency, in a statement Monday, said that since the taxes lapsed, the cleanup fund has been financed through general revenues, “thus burdening the taxpayer with the costs of cleaning up abandoned hazardous waste sites.”

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), chairman of the subcommittee that oversees Superfund, recently said that the oil spill has focused needed attention on “holding companies responsible for the messes they make." He has sponsored legislation to re-impose the taxes.

Lautenberg told The Hill that Inhofe’s comments were “inappropriate.”

Lautenberg said the administration doesn’t need an excuse to say “Hey, we're spending $1 billion, $300 million worth of taxpayer money when in fact it should have been paid for by the people who created the problem in the first place.”

During the hearing, he cited Government Accountability Office findings in calling for a revival of the Superfund taxes. GAO, in testimony to the committee, said that money needed for EPA to take care of hazardous sites far exceeds the available funding.

It also found that many hazardous sites have not been cleaned up as a result.



John Stephenson, director of natural resources and environment at GAO, testified that insufficient funding has "forced EPA to choose between cleaning up a greater number of sites more slowly at a higher cost and cleaning up fewer sites more quickly at a lower cost."



But Inhofe said the tax could apply to many small businesses besides oil companies, including businesses that make over $2 million in income.



"In other words, the Superfund tax is also a small business tax, affecting thousands of such businesses across the country, and their employees," Inhofe said. "If the Obama administration is serious about finding ways to stimulate the economy and create jobs, imposing a tax on small businesses is obviously the wrong remedy."

In addition to crude oil and petroleum products, the taxes also cover hazardous chemicals, imports that use hazardous chemicals as a component, and some corporate income.












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