Cleanup decisions under Superfund: Do benefits and costs matter
The high costs of cleanups of hazardous waste sites under the Superfund program has prompted critics of the program to question whether the benefits of cleanups are worth what the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says should be spent to achieve them. Recently, researchers at Resources for the Future and the University of Maryland examined the agency's decisions regarding the cleanup of 110 Superfund sites in order to determine whether the factors that influenced the agency's choice of target risk level (the lifetime cancer risk posed by a site after cleanup) and choice of cleanup option (how permanent the cleanup should be) for each site were related to benefit and cost considerations. Their study reveals that EPA balanced benefits and costs to the extent that it was legally entitled to do so. Other factors being equal, the cheaper the cost of a cleanup option, the more likely it was that the agency chose it. However, EPA clearly preferred more permanent remedies to less permanent remedies. The question remains whether the benefits of more permanent remedies warrant the costs of obtaining them.
- OSTI ID:
- 6334162
- Journal Information:
- Resources; (United States), Vol. 111; ISSN 0048-7376
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
An evaluation of public preferences for Superfund site cleanup
The dilemma of groundwater cleanup levels at DOD Superfund sites: Federal versus state standards
Related Subjects
POLICY AND ECONOMY
REMEDIAL ACTION
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
US SUPERFUND
LEGAL ASPECTS
POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS
RISK ASSESSMENT
US EPA
AROMATICS
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
LAWS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION LAWS
US ORGANIZATIONS
290200* - Energy Planning & Policy- Economics & Sociology