Superfund Program: Updated Appropriation and Expenditure Data	 
(18-FEB-04, GAO-04-475R).					 
                                                                 
This report contains GAO's update of the appropriation and	 
expenditure data for the Environmental Protection Agency's	 
Superfund program since a July 2003 report.			 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-475R					        
    ACCNO:   A09330						        
  TITLE:     Superfund Program: Updated Appropriation and Expenditure 
Data								 
     DATE:   02/18/2004 
  SUBJECT:   Appropriated funds 				 
	     Federal funds					 
	     Financial analysis 				 
	     Financial management				 
	     Financial records					 
	     Financial statement audits 			 
	     Funds management					 
	     Trust funds					 
	     Comparative analysis				 
	     Superfund Trust Fund				 
	     Superfund Program					 

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GAO-04-475R

United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

February 18, 2004

The Honorable James M. Jeffords
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Environment and Public Works
United States Senate

Subject: Superfund Program: Updated Appropriation and Expenditure Data

Dear Senator Jeffords:

You requested that we update the appropriation and expenditure data for
the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund program as contained
in our July 2003 report on the status of the program.1 Superfund program
operations are funded by appropriations from the Superfund trust fund.
Historically, a tax on crude oil and certain chemicals and an
environmental tax on corporations were the primary sources of revenues for
the trust fund; however, the authority for these taxes expired in 1995.
The trust fund continues to receive revenues in the form of cost
recoveries, interest on the fund balance, fines and penalties, and general
revenue fund appropriations that supplement the trust fund balance.

As enclosure I shows, total Superfund program appropriations decreased
from fiscal year 1993 to fiscal year 2004, in constant 2003 dollars, from
$1,903 million to $1,241 million, respectively. Since fiscal year 2000,
the Superfund program has increasingly relied on revenue from general
revenue fund appropriations. In fiscal year 2004, the appropriation from
the general fund was the only source of funds for the program. As
enclosure II shows, Superfund program expenditures between fiscal years
1993 and 2003, also in constant 2003 dollars, have fluctuated between
$1,727 million and $1,366 million.

In preparing this report, we relied primarily on our prior work on EPA's
Superfund program, updated where appropriate through discussions with
Superfund program officials in EPA headquarters. Because we relied on
previously issued work, we did not obtain comments from EPA on a draft of
this report. We conducted our work in February 2004 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards.

1U.S. General Accounting Office, Superfund Program: Current Status and
Future Fiscal Challenges, GAO-03-850 (Washington, D.C.: July 31, 2003).

                         GAO-04-475R Superfund Program

As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce its contents
earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 5 days after
the issue date. At that time, we will send copies of this report to the
appropriate congressional committees; the Administrator, EPA; and other
interested parties. We will also make copies available to others upon
request. In addition, the report will be available at no charge on the GAO
Web site at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff have any questions, please call me at (202) 512-3841.
Key contributors to this report were Ellen Crocker, Tim Guinane, Jerry
Laudermilk, Nico Sloss, and Tatiana Winger.

Sincerely yours,

John B. Stephenson Director, Natural Resources

and Environment

Enclosures

Page 2

GAO-04-475R Superfund Program

Enclosure I

Appropriations to the Superfund Program, Fiscal Years 1993 through 2004

    Source: The President's budget appendix, fiscal years 1995 through 2005.

Page 3

GAO-04-475R Superfund Program

Enclosure II

EPA's Superfund Program Expenditures, Fiscal Years 1993 through 2003

Dollars in                        
millions                          
               Total expenditures in      Total expenditures in constant 2003 
Fiscal year  current year dollars                                  dollars 
1993                       $1,329                                   $1,592 
1994                        1,473                                    1,727 
1995                        1,460                                    1,677 
1996                        1,305                                    1,470 
1997                        1,361                                    1,507 
1998                        1,337                                    1,462 
1999                        1,512                                    1,633 
2000                        1,502                                    1,590 
2001                        1,406                                    1,454 
2002                        1,344                                    1,366 
2003                        1,517                                    1,517 

Source: EPA data.

(360444)

Page 4

GAO-04-475R Superfund Program

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