{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"2022 Archive of RENATURED, Marina Zurkow's Research Blog","provider_url":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022","author_name":"Marina","author_url":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/blog\/author\/admin\/","title":"Superfund > < supernova?","html":"\"\"\r\n\r\nA\u00a0Superfund site<\/a>\u00a0is an abandoned hazardous waste site that poses enough risk to human and environmental health that the Environmental Protection Agency has stepped in to lead a clean-up effort. It\u2019s also the name of an actual fund that no longer has any money in\u00a0it*\r\n<\/strong>\u2013 http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/superfund\/about.htm<\/a>\r\n
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\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"400\"]\"What<\/a>
This Chandra X-ray photograph shows Cassiopeia A (Cas A, for short), the youngest supernova remnant in the Milky Way.
Credit: NASA\/CXC\/MIT\/UMass Amherst\/M.D.Stage et al.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\nA blindingly bright star bursts into view in a corner of the night sky \u2014 it wasn't there just a few hours ago, but now it burns like a beacon.\u00a0That bright star isn't actually a star, at least not anymore. The brilliant point of light is the explosion of a star that has reached the end of its life, otherwise known as a supernova.\r\n\r\nSupernovas can briefly outshine entire galaxies and radiate more energy than our sun will in its entire lifetime. They're also the primary source of heavy elements in the universe.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nhttps:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Supernova\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n*\u00a0the Superfund law originally paid for\u00a0toxic waste<\/a>\u00a0cleanups through a\u00a0tax<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0petroleum<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0chemical industries<\/a>. The chemical and petroleum fees were intended to provide incentives to use less toxic substances. Over five years, $1.6 billion was collected, and the tax went to a\u00a0trust fund<\/a>\u00a0for cleaning up abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. The last\u00a0full fiscal year<\/a>\u00a0(FY) in which the\u00a0Department of the Treasury<\/a>\u00a0collected the tax was 1995. At the end of FY 1996 the invested trust fund balance was $6.0 billion. This fund was exhausted by the end of FY 2003; since that time funding for superfund sites for which the potentially responsible party (PRP) could not be found has been\u00a0appropriated by Congress<\/a>\u00a0out of general revenues. \u2013http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Superfund#Provisions<\/a>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\u00a0\"\"","type":"rich"}