Superfund Program: Breakdown of Appropriations Data (14-MAY-04,  
GAO-04-787R).							 
                                                                 
On February 18, 2004, we issued a report updating the		 
appropriations and expenditure data for the Environmental	 
Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund program that we included in  
our July 2003 report on the status of the program. To supplement 
this information, Congress requested that we provide a breakdown 
of the appropriations data, showing the amounts for the Superfund
program, amounts designated for the Agency for Toxic Substances  
and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the National Institute of	 
Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the Brownfields	 
program. Superfund program operations are funded by		 
appropriations from the general revenue fund and 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.							 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-787R					        
    ACCNO:   A10069						        
  TITLE:     Superfund Program: Breakdown of Appropriations Data      
     DATE:   05/14/2004 
  SUBJECT:   Appropriations					 
	     Auditing standards 				 
	     Trust funds					 
	     Federal funds					 
	     Funds management					 
	     Financial analysis 				 
	     Financial records					 
	     Superfund Program					 
	     Superfund Trust Fund				 
	     EPA Brownfields Economic Development		 
	     Initiative 					 
                                                                 

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GAO-04-787R

United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

May 14, 2004

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

Subject: Superfund Program: Breakdown of Appropriations Data

Dear Senator Jeffords:

On February 18, 2004, we issued a report updating the appropriations and
expenditure data for the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund
program that we included in our July 2003 report on the status of the
program.1 To supplement this information, you requested that we provide a
breakdown of the appropriations data, showing the amounts for the
Superfund program, amounts designated for the Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the Brownfields program. Superfund program
operations are funded by appropriations from the general revenue fund and
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.

In preparing this report, we relied primarily on our prior work on EPA's
Superfund program, updated where appropriate through discussions with EPA
officials in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and the Office of
Solid Waste and Emergency Response. We determined that the appropriations
and expenditure data used were sufficiently reliable through our
interviews with EPA officials. We conducted our work from February through
April 2004 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards.

As enclosure I shows, total Superfund program appropriations decreased
from fiscal year 1993 to fiscal year 2004, in constant 2003 dollars, from
$1,884 million to

1U.S. General Accounting Office, Superfund Program: Updated Appropriation
and Expenditure Data, GAO-04-475R (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 18, 2004) and
Superfund Program: Current Status and Future Fiscal Challenges, GAO-03-850
(Washington, D.C.: July 31, 2003).

                         GAO-04-787R Superfund Program

$1,242 million.2 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. Enclosure II provides a breakdown of the
appropriations for the Superfund program, including amounts designated for
ATSDR, NIEHS, and the Brownfields program. The enclosure shows that the
net Superfund program appropriations-excluding the amounts for ATSDR,
NIEHS, and the Brownfields program-decreased from $1,757 million to $1,242
million, in constant 2003 dollars, from fiscal year 1993 to fiscal year
2004.

We provided EPA with a draft of this report for review and comment. EPA
generally agreed with the information in the report and provided several
technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate.

As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce the contents of
this report earlier, we plan no further distribution of it until 5 days
from the report date. At that time, we will send copies 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.

John B. Stephenson Director, Natural Resources

and Environment

Enclosures

2Enclosure I shows the enacted amounts of the appropriations. In February
2004, we provided the actual appropriation amounts, which include amounts
carried over from prior years, consistent with our July 2003 report.

                      Page 2 GAO-04-787R Superfund Program

Enclosure I Sources and Amounts of Appropriations to the Superfund
Program, Fiscal Years 1993 through 2004

Source: GAO analysis of EPA data.

Note: Through fiscal year 2000, the Superfund program appropriations
included funds for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
(ATSDR) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
(NIEHS); through fiscal year 2002, the appropriations included funds for
the Brownfields program.

aFor the purposes of this analysis, we excluded a $40 million emergency
supplemental appropriation from the fiscal year 2002 Superfund program
appropriations because it was designated specifically for homeland
security purposes.

bWe converted the annual appropriations to constant 2003 dollars using the
Gross Domestic Product (Chained) Price Index.

Page 3 GAO-04-787R Superfund Program

Enclosure II Breakdown of Funding for the Superfund Program, Fiscal Years
1993 through 2004

                                        Dollars in millions
                                                   Fiscal years
                 1993   1994   1995   1996   1997   1998   1999   2000   2001    2002   2003   2004 
                          Enacted appropriations in current year dollars
  Superfund                                                                                         
program                                                                                   
appropriations $1,573 $1,497 $1,354 $1,313 $1,394 $1,500 $1,500 $1,400 $1,270 $1,270a $1,265 $1,258
    Amount                                                                                          
designated for                                                              b       b      b      b
  ATSDR and                                                                                  
    NIEHS         106    117    128    110    118    132    136    130                       
    Amount                                                                                          
designated for                                                                               
     the                                                                                   e      e
 Brownfields                                                                                 
  program c        0d      1      2      8     37     89     91     92     91      95        
  Superfund                                                                                         
program                                                                                   
appropriations                                                                               
  excluding                                                                                  
 amounts for                                                                                 
ATSDR, NIEHS,                                                                                
and the                                                                                   
 Brownfields                                                                                 
program      1,467  1,379  1,224  1,195  1,239  1,279  1,273  1,178  1,179   1,175  1,265  1,258
                         Enacted appropriations in constant 2003 dollars f
  Superfund                                                                                         
program                                                                                   
appropriations  1,884  1,755  1,555  1,479  1,544  1,641  1,620  1,482  1,314  1,291a  1,265  1,242
    Amount                                                                                          
designated for                                                              b       b      b      b
  ATSDR and                                                                                  
    NIEHS         127    137    147    124    131    144    147    138                       
    Amount                                                                                          
designated for                                                                               
     the                                                                                   e      e
 Brownfields                                                                                 
  program c        0d      1      2      9     41     97     98     97     94      97        
  Superfund                                                                                         
program                                                                                   
appropriations                                                                               
  excluding                                                                                  
 amounts for                                                                                 
ATSDR, NIEHS,                                                                                
and the                                                                                   
 Brownfields                                                                                 
program      1,757  1,617  1,406  1,346  1,372  1,399  1,375  1,247  1,219   1,194  1,265  1,242

Sources: GAO analysis of data from EPA and the President's Budget
Appendix, Fiscal Years 1994 through 2005.

aFor the purposes of this analysis, we excluded a $40 million emergency
supplemental appropriation from the fiscal year 2002 Superfund program
appropriations because it was designated specifically for homeland
security purposes.

bBeginning in fiscal year 2001, appropriations for ATSDR and NIEHS were no
longer included in the Superfund program appropriations.

cFor fiscal years 1993 through 1996, the amount designated for the
Brownfields program represents budget authority as estimated by EPA,
rather than appropriations to the program.

dThe amount designated for the Brownfields program in fiscal year 1993 was
$0.15 million in current year dollars ($0.18 million in constant 2003
dollars).

eBeginning in fiscal year 2003, appropriations for the Brownfields program
were no longer included in the Superfund program appropriations.

fWe converted the annual appropriations to constant 2003 dollars using the
Gross Domestic Product (Chained) Price Index.

(360472)

                      Page 4 GAO-04-787R Superfund Program

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