Superfund: Cleaning the Taxpayers' Clocks

Izzy Lyman

At the invitation of the Bozeman-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), Pennsylvanian Bob Cox told journalists gathered at the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Emigrant, Montana a tale that the National Enquirer could headline like this:

“Uncle Sam regulated me out of business.”

Cox, age 57, is the former CEO of the Gilbert Spruance Company of Philadelphia. Since 1906 this family-owned business had been producing industrial coatings for the furniture and kitchen cabinet industries. Spruance averaged three to five million dollars annually in sales and had some 50 employees and several A-list clients. In short, it was the quintessential small business, and an eco-friendly one at that.

“I felt that an environmentalist in the paint and wood-finish coatings industry could co-exist with the federal environmental regulations so prevalent over the past 20 years,” writes Cox in EPA and Superfund: A Small Business Story.

He adds, “My experiences, however, proved me incorrect.”

In 1980, Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act or Superfund. Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the law’s mission is to locate, investigate, and oversee rigorous clean up of “dirty dirt” and contaminated groundwater from hazardous waste sites. The type of site that makes Superfund’s “National Priorities List” is typically an abandoned factory, landfill, or old mine.

But while this billion dollar public works program causes Sierra Clubbers to swoon, it is greatly responsible for eliminating manufacturing jobs.

Cox’s initial encounter with the federal juggernaut began in 1984 when one Marvin Jonas testified before EPA and Department of Justice lawyers in Washington, D.C., explaining that he had hauled waste for several corporate giants, such as DuPont and Dow Chemical, as well as small Gilbert Spruance, to dumps that had become identified as Superfund sites. (Cox was told that Jonas was granted immunity for his testimony.)

Under Superfund, if a party uses a licensed hauler, as Spruance had done, and only a miniscule amount of waste is found at the site, the company automatically becomes one of the “potentially responsible parties” due to the punishing aspects of the law that includes "joint and several liability."

Spruance, decreed the federales, was involved with eleven Superfund sites. At one New Jersey landfill, the company’s waste contribution was estimated at .023 percent. Cox’s company was sued for $150,000 to get the first phase of the cleanup of the dump completed. But the legal wrangling was just beginning. In 1990, the EPA told Spruance that they were a potentially responsible party at another N.J. landfill and were told to pay a settlement of $1.3 million.

Cox made several trips to Capitol Hill to plead his case. “The Senators always had sympathy for the small guy, but as soon as I left, it was back to business as usual.”

After spending over $300,000 in legal fees, Spruance did not have the capital to remain competitive or the resources to cope with the regulatory lawsuits. The ordeal also took a toll on Cox’s health. In 1993, Spruance was sold at a “bargain-basement” price.

While David didn’t defeat Goliath in that battle, Cox remains active. As president of Cox Environmental Consultants, he advocates market-based incentives to improve the environment and champions Superfund reformation.

In 2002, President George W. Bush offered a measure of respite to some small business owners from the more unfair liability practices associated with Superfund when he signed the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act.

But the boondoggling continues.

“If you look at a Superfund dollar, 45 to 60 percent is going toward legal and administrative costs. They don’t have enough in the coffers to do the cleanups,” notes Cox.

He's too polite to add: But they have enough in those tax-subsidized coffers to commit legal plunder by shaking down innocent Americans while rewarding themselves with royal salaries.


This column appeared in the Belgrade News (Montana) on July 20, 2004. Izzy Lyman can be reached at ilyman7449@aol.com.