08.17.05

Cantwell Releases Government Report Confirming Corporate Polluters are Leaving Town and Abandoning Cleanup Sites

Asarco Employing Same Tactics Described in Report:Without Federal Enforcement, Taxpayers Stuck With Cleanup Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report Wednesday showing that corporate polluters like Asarco are evading their environmental clean up liabilities. The report showed that companies are using business tactics like bankruptcy filings to abandon cleanup responsibilities at polluted sites around the country.

"This report confirmed what I feared—corporate polluters are using bankruptcy and other corporate gimmicks to get out of their environmental cleanup obligations," Cantwell said. "Federal regulators need to do more to prevent corporate polluters from sticking taxpayers with the clean-up bill. There needs to be more accountability from all involved when it comes to cleaning up the mess left behind by corporations that contaminate sites and then leave town."

In 2002, Cantwell asked the GAO to examine "how corporate polluters may be avoiding their responsibility under existing environmental laws." The comprehensive study confirmed Cantwell’s concerns.

Cantwell released the report Wednesday while visiting the home of David Alger in Ruston, Wash., whose backyard was polluted by the nearby Asarco plant. Cleanup on Alger’s land stopped abruptly after the company declared bankruptcy on August 10, 2005.

Cantwell was joined Wednesday by City of Ruston officials, and Deb Callahan, the President of the League of Conservation Voters.

"What we see here in Washington state today is a problem we see across the United States," Callahan said. "Communities are left holding the toxic ball while corporate interests duck responsibility for their actions. The federal government must ensure that the polluter pays."

Cantwell added, "There’s more this administration could be doing to hold Asarco and other companies like it responsible for the harm they’ve done. They should not be allowed to get away with this now, and they most definitely should never be able to do it in the future."

The report finds that the EPA has faced significant challenges in holding polluting corporations responsible for their environmental cleanup obligations, partly due to bankruptcy laws that allow companies to avoid future cleanup costs on sites that were damaged in the past. As a result of Asarco’s recent bankruptcy declaration, work to make polluted sites safe for local communities will be abandoned or delayed and the $100 million cleanup tab for Asarco’s Washington state sites may have to be borne by taxpayers.

For a copy of the GAO report, please call Sen. Cantwell’s press office at (202) 224-8277.