Number: 1988-12
WHEREAS, numerous hazardous waste sites, mines, oil spills, and other sources of toxics threaten the environment, contaminate the food chain upon which man and animal rely for survival, and injure precious natural resources; and
WHEREAS, Superfund and related laws provide the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), other Federal agencies, and State agencies with authority to protect, restore and assess damage to natural resources threatened or injured by toxic substances; and
WHEREAS, in most instances, the EPA, the Department of the Interior, and State and Federal agencies have been slow to use these authorities, neglecting their duties to assess toxic pollution damage, and to restore or protect the injured natural resources for current and future generations; and
WHEREAS, EPA’s rules for determining Superfund cleanup methods and priorities, and the Interior Department’s rules for assessing natural resource damage from toxic pollution, do not assure that natural resources endangered or injured by toxic pollutants are protected and restored adequately; and
WHEREAS, Congress has failed to provide adequate funds under Superfund and related laws to assess natural resource damage caused by toxic pollution, or to protect, restore, or replace injured resources when responsible parties have not been held liable; and
WHEREAS, even in instances where toxic pollution poses a clear threat to natural resources of significant national importance, for example where toxic discharges from the unsealed Iron Mountain Mine in the Upper Sacramento River basin in California threaten the chinook salmon fishery and other important resources, EPA and other Federal agencies have failed to act expeditiously;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 17-20, 1988, in New Orleans, Louisiana calls upon the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and all other responsible State and Federal agencies to carry out their duties faithfully to protect the environment from toxic releases, and to assess and correct damage to natural resources from toxic pollutants; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that these agencies should clean up mines, abandoned mines, waste sites, and other potential sources of toxic pollution expeditiously; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that EPA’s Superfund cleanup rules, and the Interior Department’s natural resource damage rules, should be revised to assure that the food chain and all natural resources are protected and restored adequately; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if the parties responsible for the release of toxic pollutants are known, they should pay for cleanup, damage assessment, natural resource restoration or replacement, and other demonstrated damages; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress should assure that adequate funds are available, through Superfund and other provisions of law, to pay State and Federal agencies to assess natural resource damage caused by toxics, to pay for restoration or replacement of injured resources where responsible parties cannot be held liable, and to clean up sources of such toxic pollution.