Problems and limitations of voluntary cleanup programs
- Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, New Castle, DE (United States). Superfund Branch
At least a dozen states have already implemented voluntary cleanup programs (VCPs). Provisions to promote state VCPs were prominent in the EPA`s 1994 proposed revisions to CERCLA and in current legislative initiatives. Under the VCP, property owners voluntarily enroll to investigate and remediate contaminated sites with the aegis of a state agency and thus avoid involvement with the federal Superfund program. When the state agency is satisfied with the condition of the site, it issues a certificate to the owner. The VCP is meant to mitigate unintended consequences of CERCLA such as the economic abandonment of urban industrial sites in favor of unpolluted suburban sites. The VCP concept has been combined with other reforms including cleanup standards, financial incentives, and independent action. The effectiveness of voluntary cleanup programs is limited by the costs of investigation and cleanup relative to the value of the property in question. It is also limited when property has environmental problems outside the traditional focus of state Superfund agencies on soil and groundwater contamination. VCPs also have potential unintended consequences of their own. The VCP concept is consistent with a 15 year trend of increasing government attention and involvement with sites of diminishing health and environmental significance. VCP may reinforce the perception of liability and unwittingly raise the standard of due diligence in property assessments, especially if combined with generic cleanup standard.
- OSTI ID:
- 205356
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-951139-; TRN: IM9615%%136
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 16. hazardous waste conference and exhibition: new frontiers in hazardous waste, Washington, DC (United States), 6-8 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Superfund 16: Conference and exhibition proceedings. Volume 1; PB: 828 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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