EPA chief accused of blocking cleanup funds

Environmental Protection Agency chief Anne Burford blocked funding until after the November election for a California toxic waste cleanup, agency officials charged Saturday.

And to justify her decision, they added, Mrs. Burford effectively stalled action at a Minnesota site as well for up to a year. According to UPI, the officials were told Mrs. Burford and aides were worried release of $6.1 million in cleanup funds to California might benefit the Democratic Senate campaign of Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. In contrast to normal routine, only top-level agency officials were allowed to handle much of the paperwork on funding for the Stringfellow Acid Pits in Glen Avon, Calif., sources said.