GAO-04-475R Superfund Program 

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.

 

1

U.S. General Accounting Office, Superfund Program: Current Status and Future Fiscal 

Challenges, GAO-03-850 (Washington, D.C.: July 31, 2003). 

United States General Accounting Office 

Washington, DC 20548 
Page 2 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
Enclosure I 

Page 3 GAO-04-475R Superfund Program 

Appropriations to 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 

Appropriations in current year dollars

From general revenues $250 $250 $250 $250 $250 $250 $325 $700 $634 $676 $632 $1,257 

From the Superfund trust 

fund $1,339 $1,247 $1,104 $1,061 $1,145 $1,250 $1,167 $700 $634 $634 $633 $0 

Total in current year 

dollars $1,589 $1,497 $1,354 $1,311 $1,395 $1,500 $1,492 $1,400 $1,268 $1,310 $1,265 $1,257 

Appropriations in constant 2003 dollars

From general revenues $299 $293 $287 $282 $277 $274 $351 $741 $656 $687 $632 $1,241 

From the Superfund trust 

fund $1,604 $1,462 $1,268 $1,195 $1,268 $1,368 $1,260 $741 $656 $644 $633 $0 

Total in constant 2003 

dollars $1,903 $1,755 $1,555 $1,477 $1,545 $1,642 $1,611 $1,482 $1,312 $1,331 $1,265 $1,241 

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

Page 4 GAO-04-475R Superfund Program 

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

Dollars in millions 

Fiscal year 

Total expenditures

 in current year dollars 

Total expenditures 

in constant 2003 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) 
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