Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Liability shifting (spin-offs, bankruptcy, closure bonds) · United States · 1980–2025

US Superfund tax and funding shortfall

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed See the gaps

The US Superfund programme, created in 1980 to clean up contaminated sites, was financed by chemical and petroleum taxes until they lapsed at the end of 1995. The taxes returned in 2022 and 2023; fiscal 2024 receipts were about $1.2 billion against an estimate of $2.5 billion.

68% → 6%Share of Superfund trust fund revenue that came from taxes
1981–95 compared with 1996–2007. Approximate figures reported by the US Government Accountability Office; in the second period the general fund supplied about 59%.

Status As of the EPA fiscal 2025 results and IRS Announcement 2026-2: the chemical tax runs to 31 December 2031 and the petroleum tax has no end date; fiscal 2024 receipts were about $1.2 billion against a $2.5 billion estimate.

What?
The Superfund programme's dedicated chemical and petroleum taxes lapsed at the end of 1995 and were reinstated in 2022–2023; fiscal 2024 receipts were below the estimate. E&E News
Where?
United States.
When?
1980 to 2025; taxes lapsed end of 1995; reinstated 2022–2023; chemical tax runs to 31 December 2031. Congressional Research Service
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
Harmed
None on record
Why?
The record does not state why the taxes lapsed in 1995.
How?
The infrastructure law reinstated the chemical tax at doubled rates with a $3.5 billion general-fund transfer; the Inflation Reduction Act set the petroleum tax. Congress then cut the fiscal 2024 appropriation by $744.5 million and used tax receipts to offset it. Congressional Research Service
In proportion Taxes supplied about 68% of trust fund revenue in 1981–95 and about 6% in 1996–2007, when the general fund supplied about 59%. US Government Accountability Office
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) created the US Superfund programme for cleaning up contaminated sites. The programme was originally financed by taxes on chemicals and petroleum. The petroleum tax had been 9.7 cents per barrel when the taxes lapsed at the end of 1995. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), taxes paid between 1981 and 1998 totalled $13.5 billion.

GAO reported that taxes made up about 68% of trust fund revenue in 1981–95. In 1996–2007, after the taxes had lapsed, taxes made up about 6% of trust fund revenue and the general fund about 59%.

Congress later reinstated the taxes. The infrastructure law (IIJA) set the chemical tax at doubled rates from 1 July 2022 to 31 December 2031 and added a $3.5 billion transfer from the general fund. The Inflation Reduction Act set a petroleum tax of 16.4 cents per barrel, indexed to inflation and without an end date; another source in the record dates its return to 2023. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated about $15 billion from the chemical tax and more than $10.5 billion from the petroleum tax over about ten years, as cited in the record.

Receipts fell short of the estimate. E&E News, citing EPA budget documents, reported in April 2024 that fiscal 2024 receipts were about $1.2 billion against a $2.5 billion estimate: $472.8 million from the chemical tax against about $1.7 billion, and $732.1 million from the petroleum tax against $858 million. EPA's records show that Congress cut the fiscal 2024 appropriation by $744.5 million and used tax receipts to offset it.

Responsible parties also fund cleanups. EPA recorded fiscal 2024 commitments from responsible parties of more than $1.1 billion, plus $28.5 million in reimbursement of EPA's past costs, and a cumulative total of about $52.5 billion since 1980 (EPA, fiscal 2025 results). EPA compensates 'orphan shares', the portion of a remedy attributable to parties that cannot pay, up to 25% of remedy costs.

  1. 1980CERCLA creates the Superfund programme
  2. 1995Chemical and petroleum taxes lapse at year end; the petroleum tax had been 9.7 cents per barrel
  3. 2007End of the 1996–2007 period in which taxes supplied about 6% and the general fund about 59% of trust fund revenue (GAO)
  4. 2022Chemical tax reinstated at doubled rates from 1 July, to run to 31 December 2031; $3.5 billion general-fund transfer
  5. 2023Petroleum tax of 16.4 cents per barrel in force, indexed and without an end date
  6. 2024Fiscal 2024 receipts about $1.2 billion against a $2.5 billion estimate; appropriation cut by $744.5 million
  7. 2025EPA reports about $52.5 billion committed by responsible parties since 1980

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

How much would the reinstated taxes raise?
Researchers
Congressional Budget Office (as cited in the record)

Estimated about $15 billion from the chemical tax and more than $10.5 billion from the petroleum tax over about ten years.

Press and investigations
E&E News, citing EPA budget documents

Fiscal 2024 receipts were about $1.2 billion against a $2.5 billion estimate.

E&E News

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • The tax was expected to raise about $15 billion (chemical) and more than $10.5 billion (petroleum) over about ten years.
    Congressional Budget Office, as cited in secondary sources (secondary citation)

Recorded

  • Taxes were about 68% of trust fund revenue in 1981–95; in 1996–2007 taxes were about 6% and the general fund about 59% (GAO-08-841R).
    US Government Accountability Office
  • Fiscal 2024 receipts were about $1.2 billion against a $2.5 billion estimate: chemical tax $472.8 million against about $1.7 billion; petroleum tax $732.1 million against $858 million.
    E&E News
  • Congress cut the fiscal 2024 appropriation by $744.5 million and used tax receipts to offset it (EPA, as reported in the sources reviewed).
  • Responsible parties made fiscal 2024 commitments of more than $1.1 billion plus $28.5 million in reimbursement of EPA's past costs; the cumulative total since 1980 is about $52.5 billion.
    US Environmental Protection Agency
  • IRS Announcement 2026-2 stated that the 2026 petroleum tax rate of $0.18 per barrel is the Superfund portion only.

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: USD · Window: FY2024. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • us-epa (FY2024–FY2025): Recorded fiscal 2024 responsible-party commitments of more than $1.1 billion plus $28.5 million in reimbursement, a cumulative $52.5 billion since 1980, and compensation of orphan shares up to 25% of remedy costs. · US Environmental Protection Agency

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Tax share of trust fund revenue
68% → 6%
1981–95 compared with 1996–2007 (GAO-08-841R); the general fund supplied about 59% in the later period
Fiscal 2024 tax receipts
$1.2bn vs $2.5bn
Chemical tax $472.8m against about $1.7bn; petroleum tax $732.1m against $858m (E&E News, citing EPA budget documents)
Responsible-party commitments since 1980
About $52.5bn
EPA fiscal 2025 results

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

Accounts

  • Disputed How much would the reinstated taxes raise?

Record

  • None on record the sources reviewed's primary sources give no percentage split of cleanup costs between responsible parties and the fund.
  • None on record No current count of orphan sites and no Treasury balance for the Superfund trust fund were found.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a reports of a 2015 EPA archive page said responsible parties perform about 69% of ongoing cleanups.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a 2022 reports of an accounting-firm note (Withum / Deloitte) put the expected yield of the reinstated chemical tax at about $14.4 billion over ten years, to 2031.

Did the harm stop?

Not applicable: the record concerns a funding mechanism, not a single harm. The chemical and petroleum taxes lapsed at the end of 1995; the chemical tax was reinstated from 1 July 2022 (to 31 December 2031) and the petroleum tax by 2023.

Who paid?

After the taxes lapsed, the general fund supplied about 59% of trust fund revenue in 1996–2007 (GAO). Responsible parties have committed about $52.5 billion since 1980 (EPA).

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Government and regulators

  2. GAO-08-841R on Superfund trust fund revenue
    US Government Accountability Office ·

Press and investigations

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Institutions

EPA
The US Environmental Protection Agency.

Carbon and conservation finance

Offset
Using carbon credits to balance emissions released elsewhere, so that a buyer can claim lower or zero net emissions.

Science and environment

PFOA (C8) and PFAS
PFAS are a large family of human-made chemicals that persist in the environment and the body; PFOA, also called C8, is one of them and was used to make Teflon.
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