Superfund's Future: what will it cost?

• Position: BOOKS RECEIVED

Katherine N. Probst and David M. Konisky with Robert Hersh, Michael B. Batz, and Katherine D. Walker. 1616 P Street NW, Washington D.C. 20036-1400: RFF Press, 2001. (202) 328-5086. www.rffpress.org. ISBN 1-891853-39-2. 294 pp. $18.95 Paperback.

Reauthorization of the Superfund law continues to be a major source of controversy among political leaders and environmental activists. Some seek a major overhaul of the statute, arguing that considerable cleanup still needs to be done. Others oppose major changes, asserting that cleanup is almost complete. One of the most contentious issues in the debate is whether the taxes that once stocked the Superfund Trust Fund need to be reinstated. The answer depends in large part on how much money EPA will need to implement the Superfund program. To inform this discussion, the U.S. Congress asked Resources for the Future (RFF) to estimate the program's future costs. The results of this research are included in Superfund's...