96th United States Congress
Superfund Reform, or Corporate Welfare?
While many large polluters are being held accountable for widespread toxic dumping, some small businesses with minor violations are getting caught up in the same legal and financial complexities of Superfund laws. Patrick Cox of member station WBUR in Boston reports on a small Massachusetts firm that’s inherited some big business and legal problems.
Superfund [audio only]
When the Superfund program was set up in 1980, taxes on polluting industries were supposed to finance the bulk of the hazardous waste cleanup program. Recently, the Bush Administration decided not to reauthorize what many call the “polluter pays” taxes, and instead has shifted the burden onto taxpayers. Host Steve Curwood talks with Katherine Probst […]
Lab Fraud
The U.S. Justice Department calls it the biggest case of laboratory fraud in the nation’s history, and the scandal affects 59,000 toxic clean-up sites in the U.S. After a two-year probe of the Intertech Laboratory in Richardson, Texas, 13 former employees had been criminally charged in connection with widespread falsification of environmental test reports. The […]