ABSTRACT
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must go through the formal process of placing a site on its National Priorities List (NPL). Any or all of the cleanup phases may be paid for and performed by a responsible party under a legally enforceable agreement with EPA. Once EPA and the state in which the site is located have determined that all work at a site has achieved the desired cleanup goals, the site can be removed from the NPL. Concerned citizen groups began to monitor the site cleanup programs in 1983. Congress investigated allegations of political manipulation and mismanagement in 1983, resulting in the resignation of EPA’s administrator and the incarceration of the Superfund top official. EPA expended that budget as of the end of fiscal year 1991, reporting only 57 additional sites being cleaned up, including sites pending close out approval.
