With EPA conceding its Superfund cleanup cost recovery options are limited in part due to recent Supreme Court rulings, a just-released report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that EPA does not provide Congress with sufficient data for lawmakers to make adequate funding decisions, prompting some Republicans to argue that the Superfund program does not need additional money.rnThe Aug. 14 report, Litigation Has Decreased and EPA Needs Better Information on Site Cleanup and Cost Issues to Estimate Future Program Funding Requirements, was requested by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) and other GOP lawmakers. GAO says EPA should develop better data when seeking congressional approval for Superfund funding, prompting those lawmakers to also resist a bid to reinstate the long-expired Superfund tax on industry. The report is available on InsideEPA.com. See page 2 for details.rnEnvironmentalists however are questioning the Republicans' interpretation of the report. There is a "big difference [between] saying EPA doesn't manage the funding it receives versus it not effectively quantifying what it needs. That seems like two really different things," one environmentalist says.
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