This just in from EPA:

EPA sent a letter to Congress today in support of reinstating the lapsed Superfund “polluter pays” taxes.

Superfund is the federal government’s program that investigates and cleans up the nation’s most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites.

The Superfund taxes expired on December 31, 1995.  The administration proposes to reinstate the taxes as they were last in effect on crude oil, imported petroleum products, hazardous chemicals, and imported substances that use hazardous chemicals as a feedstock, and on corporate modified alternative minimum taxable income.

If reinstated, EPA states “the Superfund provision would provide a stable, dedicated source of revenue for the program and increase the pace of Superfund cleanup.  It would also ensure that parties who benefit from the manufacture or sale of substances that commonly cause environmental problems at hazardous waste sites, and not taxpayers, help bear the cost of cleanup when responsible parties cannot be identified.”

Under the proposal, the excise taxes and corporate environmental taxes would be reinstated for a period of 10 years beginning in January 2011.

If reinstated, the taxes will not only generate revenue, but have an effect on many businesses and landowners. For more information on the Superfund program and the effect of the proposed reinstatement, please contact Steve O’Day or Phillip Hoover.

For the full EPA press release, and more information on the Superfund program, please visit:  http://epa.gov/superfund/