EPA tightening rules on toxic-waste sites

The EPA is drafting stronger rules for cleaning up toxic-waste dump sites. The agency also plans to add ''between 100 and 500'' sites to the 419 already eligible for federal aid.

Lee Thomas, the EPA's new head of the toxic-waste cleanup program, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the agency is considering setting up cleanup standards for toxic pollutants and chemicals linked with cancer.

But agency officials acknowledged that the new policies would not ease the funding shortage that is keeping hundreds of dump sites from being cleaned properly.