Tens of millions of Americans live near Superfund sites. The new Inflation Reduction Act would reinstate a long-expired tax on oil companies to help cover the cost of cleaning up some of the nation's most toxic sites. Superfund sites, which include abandoned industrial sites, mining operations and military depots, have been linked to high cancer risks as well as other diseases. Congress created the program in 1980 after a series of hazardous waste accidents, most notably in the Love Canal area of Niagara Falls, New York, which reported an alarming rise in skin rashes, miscarriages and birth defects after toxic exposure. There are about 1,300 Superfund sites dotting the nation, many of which have languished on the to-do list since Congress created the program more than 40 years ago. But money for cleanups has slowed significantly since the primary funding source (which included oil taxes) lapsed in 1995. To learn more on Superfund sites, click the link in our bio.