Superfund Economics
NWI Times
Proximity to a Superfund site can have a strong negative impact on property values, as the negative connotation associated with the toxicity of Superfund sites can keep people from wanting to buy housing on or near them. Lower housing prices are often correlated with lower spending trends, and ultimately lower economic growth. Many communities that are affected by Superfund sites are already low-income, therefore the effects of Superfund on the socioeconomic status of affected communities can worsen pre-existing economic issues.
The EPA’s Superfund Redevelopment Initiative works to redevelop and reuse formerly contaminated Superfund sites. The reclamation of this land has been shown to be beneficial to local economies, with increases in the number of on-site jobs, employment income from on-site jobs, property values, property tax revenue, and the number of businesses. All of these factors can help to revitalize the economies of communities affected by Superfund sites.
Put the Super back into Superfund
Want to see polluters pay for their messes rather than taxpayers? Contact your representatives and tell them to support Rep. Earl Blumenaur’s bill: Superfund Restoration Act (H.R. 4088).
For 25 Years, Taxpayers Picked Up Polluters’ Superfund Bill. That May Finally Change.
For 15 years, the industries responsible for the nation’s worst toxic pollution helped pay into a federal trust for cleaning up waste sites through special taxes on petroleum, chemical components and corporate income. That program [...]
‘There’s No Memory of the Joy.’ Why 40 Years of Superfund Work Hasn’t Saved Tar Creek
One of the first Superfund sites in the United States remains one of the most polluted. From the late 1800s through the 1960s, miners extracted lead and zinc from the ground beneath the Tar Creek [...]
Do You Live Near Toxic Waste? See 1,317 of the Most Polluted Spots in the U.S.
Hazardous waste sites are scattered all across the country, from a Brooklyn canal once surrounded by chemical plants to a shuttered garbage incineration facility in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. There are more than 1,300 of these spots in all — dubbed [...]
Hundreds of toxic sites at risk for flooding, which could endanger surrounding communities
NAVASSA, N.C. (SBG) — Millions of Americans live near Superfund sites, areas the federal government considers contaminated as a result of hazardous waste that was dumped, mismanaged or otherwise left out in the open. Many of [...]
