Charleston Leader

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, addressed the future management of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund Program in a hearing held in Washington, D.C. Chairman Capito emphasized the need for the Superfund program to focus on its core mission of environmental cleanup and public health improvement. In her speech, she discussed eliminating unnecessary delays and reducing costs that do not contribute directly to environmental remediation.

"Today we will discuss challenges facing the EPA’s Superfund program and solutions to ensure it can live up to its full potential," Chairman Capito stated. She highlighted the ambition to refocus the EPA on core environmental missions to provide clean-ups and environmental solutions that most benefit the environment and Americans' health.

Chairman Capito noted, "Cleaning up our nation’s most contaminated sites directly improves public health and can revitalize struggling communities." Despite this, she conveyed that the Superfund program has not delivered as intended, with cleanups taking far longer than originally conceived.

"It's not because the environmental standards are higher, but rather because the program’s process has replaced the law’s cleanup mission," she remarked, referring to the complexity and inefficiencies she perceives in the Superfund framework. Problems such as legal disputes and bureaucratic hurdles are seen as obstructive to timely site remediation.

"There is no shortage of responsible parties that are ready and willing to remediate these sites," Capito said, but she argued that liability risks and financial barriers act as significant deterrents. The senator voiced an aspiration to identify processes that could make Superfund cleanups more efficient and less costly.

"In practice, the main winners in managing Superfund cleanups are the lawyers who profit from endless litigation, while communities wait for promised relief," she observed. However, she underlined that the goal is not to cut corners but to define a clear plan that drives cleanup efforts to expediently result in a productive end-state for communities.

"I look forward to hearing from today’s expert panel on how to improve the Superfund program’s efficiency and accountability," Chairman Capito concluded.