Reinventing Superfund means de-inventing'' superfund
- Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, Columbus, OH (United States)
The White House claims there are some things the federal government does that it could do better and other things it should not do at all. It is in this light that the federal government should delegate responsibility for Superfund to the states. Various factors that drove the federalization of many environmental programs in the 1970s and 1980s no longer apply for Superfund. Air and water pollution programs were federalized partly because states feared businesses would relocate to friendlier'', less environmentally stringent areas. States would not impose sufficiently stringent environmental controls, because pursuing tougher standards meant committing economic suicide. Thus, uniform air and water pollution standards were implemented on a federal level to eliminate business flight. Superfund, by contrast, imposes costs based wholly on past activities. One state's determination to rededicate its waste sites quickly and more stringently than another state has little effect on a business's location decisions. Relocating a plant does not change where the waste previously was disposed.
- OSTI ID:
- 5099462
- Journal Information:
- Hazmat World; (United States), Vol. 7:3; ISSN 0898-5685
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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