EPA's regional offices had requested about $450 million in cleanup funds for the current budget year, but the administration allocated about $224 million, according to EPA's inspector general.

The new agency report was sought by two Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. They say the number of cleanups at Superfund sites fell by almost half under the Bush administration, compared to the average of 87 sites per year during former President Bill Clinton's second term.

"The inspector general's report confirms my deepest fears that the Bush administration refuses to fund the necessary cleanup of toxic sites around the country," said Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, one of the lawmakers who asked for information about the federal Superfund program.

Sites affected by the cuts include a manufacturing plant in Edison, New Jersey, where Agent Orange, used in the Vietnam War, was produced, as well as several chemical plants in Florida and two old mines in Montana.

EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman last month created a panel of 31 advisers from industry, universities, green groups and government to assess what changes might be needed in the Superfund.

Some Democratic senators recently introduced legislation that would reinstate a Superfund tax on oil and chemical companies to pay for cleaning up the contaminated sites. They claim the Bush administration has pushed the financial responsibility of Superfund sites from corporate polluters to taxpayers since the Superfund tax expired in 1995.

Pallone said the new EPA report contradicts Whitman's promise to Congress last year to make cleaning Superfund sites a top priority.

"This goal is being seriously imperiled by the slowdown in cleanups caused by inadequate funding in the president's budget," said Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, the other lawmaker that requested the report.

Dingell said during 2001 the agency intended to clean up 75 polluted sites, but finished only 47.

The Bush administration had planned to clean 65 sites during the current 2002 spending year, which ends on Sept. 30, but now predicts only 40 sites will be cleaned because of lack of funding, Dingell said.

The Sierra Club said the Bush administration's plan to slash the Superfund program would leave dozens of communities exposed to toxic wastes and let polluters off the hook.

"Superfund cleanups are already running on fumes and if the Bush administration has its way, the program will be completely out of gas," said Carl Pope, Sierra's executive director.

More than 1,200 toxic sites remain to be cleaned up on the EPA's national priority list of Superfund sites.