A new analysis of Superfund cleanups, released by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund and the Sierra Club, criticizes the Bush Administration for allegedly failing to make Superfund site cleanup the priority it once was, and for shifting the financial burden for sites that will undergo cleanup in 2004 to the American taxpayers.

"The Bush administration has failed to include reinstatement of the polluter pays fees in its budget proposals, and Superfund's trust fund is now bankrupt," states the report, The Truth About Toxic Waste Cleanups: How EPA is Misleading the Public About the Superfund Program.

The groups also charge the administration with deflecting criticism by providing "confusing, misleading and even false information to the news media." See www.sierraclub.org/toxics/factsheets/cleanups.pdf. The EPA has released a report, Treatment Technologies for Site Cleanup: Annual Status Report, that states Superfund treatment projects in progress or completed increased to 791 in 2003 from 629 projects in 2000. The polluter pays fee expired in 1995 and no president has asked for it to be reinstated. See www.cluin.org/asr.