By Alex Knott
Data analysis by Richard Mullins
The Center used Environmental Protection Agency databases to find ties to about 700 of Superfund's 1,623 sites.
Nearly one out of three Americans lives within 10 miles of one of these 700 toxic sites, according to U.S. Census data of the 2000 population analyzed by the Center.
At least 114 of the sites could pose immediate health hazards for people living nearby, according to the EPA. The agency has determined that the risk of human exposure to dangerous contaminants at those sites is not under control or that contaminated groundwater could be migrating off-site, according to EPA records.
Together, the land mass of these 700 sites is twice the size of Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago combined, according to a Center review.
The EPA's list, entitled "Top 100 PRPs [Potentially Responsible Parties] Based on Number of Sites At Which They Are Involved," is considered by agency officials to be an internal reference document, not "an enforcement tool," according to an e-mail the EPA sent after the Center requested information about the list.
The closely guarded document was created in the 1990s and last updated in 2002. After the Center requested a copy, the EPA said the list was designated confidential and would not release it. The Center was subsequently given a copy by a government source.
The list and the EPA's database on these companies do not express any judgment about their liability or the quantity of contamination believed to be caused by them — a major fact in negotiations or litigation for cleanup responsibility under Superfund law. But the PRPs connected to Superfund sites are the companies the agency often pursues, through administrative and legal actions, when looking for money to clean up the sites.
Whatever the intent of the EPA document, many of the companies call the list an unfair measure of their involvement in polluting the sites, because it doesn't rank the companies based on the severity of pollution at any site or how much those cleanups will cost.
Similar to the cleanup rate of all Superfund sites, fewer than one out of five connected to these 100 companies and federal agencies has been cleaned up enough to be deleted from the listing of the worst toxic waste sites since the program started in 1980.
"I think they have been very successful in delaying the cleanup process," said Ed Hopkins, director of the Sierra Club's Environmental Quality Program, who has studied pollution for 20 years. He said companies like those on the EPA's list bring "a lot more muscle to the negotiating table than the EPA does. … Therefore the companies string EPA along and cleanups are delayed."
Some of the reasons for the slow progress are related to the Superfund sites' large size and complexity and the diluted liability of companies connected to each site. Another factor: Some of the sites are so polluted that it may take decades to clean them up.
The Center's methodology and findings
The Center investigation into Superfund — the government program started in 1980 to clean up toxic waste sites — focused, in part, on drawing a more complete profile of the companies on the EPA's list and their connections to the Superfund program and the EPA.
In the five years since the list was updated, the number of Superfund sites has changed by less than 5 percent, according to the Center's analysis — so the companies associated with the majority of them have remained largely the same.
Because the list contained only the number of sites connected to each company, the Center attempted to identify specific sites by running thousands of queries through the EPA's databases and by contacting each of the companies involved.
Although the EPA did not count any sites where the federal government owned or leased the property, it did name the Air Force, Coast Guard and Navy as being connected to a significant number of sites. A notation on the list indicates that the EPA also did not count Superfund sites where a company was potentially responsible for less than 5 percent of the site's pollution.
The Center's online database includes sites with ties to the federal government and also connects all the companies on the EPA list to Superfund sites they are involved with, as confirmed by the Center.
The Center's findings show:
- The federal government tops the list, linked to 225 sites, according to EPA records. It also has been fined and penalized in connection with Superfund sites at least 18 times totaling more than $1.8 million, according to a database of fines maintained by the EPA.
- Honeywell International Inc., which was linked to 128 Superfund sites, General Electric Co. (116 sites) and Chevron Corporation (122 sites) are the companies connected to the largest number of Superfund sites. For most of these sites, other companies were also listed as possibly contributing to the pollution.
- An analysis of contractors hired by the EPA found companies that appear to be connected to a large enough number of Superfund sites to be included on the EPA's "Top PRPs" list. They are International Business Machines Corp., which is linked to 28 sites, Tyco International Ltd. (19 sites) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (19 sites).
- More than half of the companies on the list ranked among Fortune's 1,000 or Global 500 last year and attempt to wield significant political power, spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying the government on various issues, including Superfund, and donating millions to political campaigns.
The Center analyzed the subsidiaries, parent firms and other companies connected to the EPA's listed companies, as well as the EPA's top contractors — a total of around 10,000 companies. This large list was then run through the EPA's database of Superfund sites to ascertain their connections to all of the sites.
The Center also determined how much these top companies spent on federal lobbying; the EPA fines and penalties levied against them related to Superfund; and what they spent on trips taken by EPA employees or members of Congress or their staff.
Some companies dispute list
Representatives from some companies on the list told the Center they contributed minor amounts of toxic waste to their Superfund sites and, in some cases, may be among dozens, hundreds or as many as 1,000 companies linked to a single hazardous waste site.
Many of them balked at being ranked on a list that merely counted the number of sites, making them appear, in some instances, to be equal to or worse than major polluters such as General Electric. GE is responsible for one of America's largest Superfund site, the Hudson River, where the company dumped more than a million pounds of toxic wastes including cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls over a period of decades, according to the EPA.
The Center found that 35 companies of those on the confidential list and the federal government, in 36 instances, were identified by the EPA as the lone "Potentially Responsible Party" for at least one Superfund site. The EPA lists 179 sites that each has only one polluter. Some of the lone PRPs were connected by the EPA to more than one site.
"It is misleading … to suggest that a party who sent 10 pounds to a licensed disposal site should be viewed the same as a party who operated a site or a party who sent hundreds, thousands or millions of pounds to a site," Liz Moyer, a spokeswoman for Texas Instruments of Dallas, wrote to the Center.
Sean D. Major, general counsel of Johnson Controls Inc. of Milwaukee, also criticized the list for several reasons. "Frankly, we have reservations about the usefulness of this rating," he said.
The Center removed some sites from its company profiles after some of the firms challenged the EPA data as being inaccurate, outdated or failing to take into account recent acquisitions and spinoffs.
Clarence E. Featherson, an attorney who tracks Superfund liabilities for the EPA, said the agency uses various informational tools, Department of Justice officials and even outside independent consultants to help follow the transferring of corporate environmental responsibilities.
Featherson told the Center that he believes companies try "to absolve themselves of liability" through mergers, acquisitions, and spinoffs. "I guess an unanswered question is how successful are they at doing this," he said.
In the years since the EPA created the list, 14 of the companies and organizations have been consolidated through mergers and acquisitions; an additional five companies have declared bankruptcy. (See related story.)
At the same time, many companies on the EPA list have paid millions to clean up Superfund sites, according to the EPA.
The Center found that at least 61 companies on the EPA's list were among the Fortune 1,000 and Global 500 last year, with revenue of more than $2.8 trillion and profits of nearly $190 billion during 2006 alone. These companies are linked to a total of 583 Superfund sites.
When it comes to influence, companies on the EPA list disclosed spending a total of more than $1 billion to lobby the government between 1998 and 2005. While these companies lobbied on dozens of various issues, more than 60 reported lobbying on environment and Superfund issues. (See related story.)
Political action committees and employees of the companies on the EPA's list also donated more than $120 million to candidates for Congress and the White House since 1997, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Some of the companies on the list together spent a total of more than $40,000 for EPA employees' trips and more than $420,000 in travel for members of Congress and their staffers between October 1997 and March 2006. (See related story.)
Sites linked to Uncle Sam
More than 80 percent of the 225 Superfund sites connected to the federal government are defense-related. For instance, the Air Force, Coast Guard and Navy are "potentially responsible" for more than 110 of the sites where the federal government is linked to the pollution.
Since the inception of Superfund, less than 20 percent of the federal government's connected sites have been cleaned up enough for them to be deleted from the National Priorities List, which is about the same rate as all Superfund cleanups. Often the responsibility for these sites is shared with other companies and organizations.
Some of the larger agencies connected to Superfund sites include the General Services Administration, which was linked to 23 sites, the U.S. Postal Service (20 sites) and the Department of Energy (10 sites). Even agencies charged with safeguarding nature — including the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Forest Service — have been connected to a total of at least 20 Superfund sites.
"There is a long history of the federal government not being the shining example of complying with its own regulations, so that's not particular to Superfund," said Katherine N. Probst, a senior fellow at Resources for the Future, who has written more than a dozen articles and studies on Superfund. "I think most people attribute it to the fact that the agencies have more clout than the EPA."
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