Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley Discusses Possible Revival of Superfund Tax

Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley was quoted in the Law360 story “Superfund Tax Would Boost Cleanups At Polluted Sites” (subscription required). The article examines how cleanups that need a monetary boost to restore Superfund sites - many of which have sat neglected for long periods of time - would get help from a congressional plan to revive a tax on chemicals and possibly on crude oil.

Commenting on funding issues associated with the matter, Brian stated, “There is a recognition among lawmakers that they must find ways to fund their priorities.”

“There's a lot of funding going out in this bill, and this is pretty palatable for Democrats and Republicans who say, ‘How are we going to pay for some of this?’,” he continued. “You have a program that existed for a while, and has been in the shadows … and there are definitely some members of Congress who have been working for years and years to reinstate this.”

Discussing sites that could be aided by this development, Brian added, “Because so many of the sites in the country are contaminated with pollution that dates back decades or even a century or more, reviving the Superfund taxes make sense.”

“From a public policy perspective, it makes more sense to share that broadly, as opposed to having a small site with five parties where two parties are insolvent,” he explained. “It's not fair, in my mind, to make the other three parties bear the brunt of that cleanup cost that could be spread out much more.”