Hightower Lowdown

Even children can understand the rule: If you make a mess, it’s yours to clean up. Many grownups, unfortunately, are unable to grasp the concept.

Industrial polluters, for instance, prefer to make a mess, grab the profits, and run. That’s why the Superfund waste-cleanup law was passed in 1980. The law assessed a tax on corporations that contaminate our air, water, and communities, with the money going into a trust fund that pays for cleanups at especially nasty industrial sites.

Of course, industry executives threw tantrums about being taxed, but the law has worked to clean up about 500 of their messes. In 1995, however, Congress caved in to the industry’s whining and eliminated the tax, which had amassed a fund of nearly $4 billion. Now that fund is down to $28 million, and there are still huge “megasites” to clean up that will cost more than $200 million each—plus industry is creating more toxic messes all the time.

So here comes George W. to the rescue . . . of the polluters! Despite the obvious need, his new budget specifically rejects any restoration of the corporate Superfund tax. He says the polluter tax is “burdensome” to industry —so instead of making polluters pay, he’ll simply clean up fewer places and shift the cost to taxpayers.