Cercla and Lender Liability: Why the Search for Deep Pockets Leads to Small Change
![handle is hein.journals/cdozo12 and id is 227 raw text is: CERCLA AND LENDER LIABILITY: WHY THE
SEARCH FOR DEEP POCKETS LEADS TO
SMALL CHANGE
Over the last fifteen years, public awareness of hazardous waste
problems has increased in proportion to the increase in hazardous
waste sites requiring environmental cleanups.' Nationally publicized
incidents, such as Love Canal,2 graphically illustrate the dangers
posed by hazardous waste site mismanagement.3 When the cata-
I In 1979, the United States Environmental Protection Agency [hereinafter EPA] esti-
mated that there were between 30,000 and 50,000 hazardous waste sites in existence, and that
between 1,200 and 2,000 of these sites posed a serious risk to public health and the environ-
ment. H.R. Rep. No. 1016(), 96th Cong., 2d Sess. 18 [hereinafter House Report], reprinted in
1980 U.S. Code Cong. & Admin. News 6119, 6120. By 1980, the EPA estimated that the
number of problem hazardous waste sites had increased to 9,000. Superfund: Looking Back,
Looking Ahead, EPA J., Jan.-Feb. 1987, 13, 17. By 1987, the EPA had included 703 sites on
its National Priorities List, which identifies the worst abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous
waste sites in the United States. The EPA had also proposed 248 additional sites for listing.
Id. Once listed on the National Priorities List, a site is eligible for cleanup funds pursuant to
federal law. See EPA Seeks Comments on 64 Proposed Sites to be Added to the National
Priorities List, 17 Env't Rep. (BNA) No. 41, at 1725 (Feb. 6, 1987). These 951 listed or
proposed sites represented only a fraction of the estimated 15,000 sites the EPA found might
pose a threat to public health and the environment. See Fiscal 1986 Superfund Enforcement
Figures Reflect Program's Disruption, Official Says, 17 Env't Rep. (BNA) No. 30, at 1220,
1221 (Nov. 21, 1986) (preliminary assessment by either state or EPA officials of over 20,000
sites ruled out only 5,476 sites as posing no threat to public health and the environment). In
fact, the General Accounting Office indicated that there could be as many as 378,000 facilities
requiring response actions. 132 Cong. Rec. S14,896 (daily ed. Oct. 3, 1986) (statement of Sen.
Stafford).
The extent of hazardous waste problems is also illustrated by the remedial costs estimated
to alleviate the problems. In calculating its 1988 fiscal budget request, the EPA estimated
average cleanup costs at $10412 million per site. Justice Official Tells BNA Conference that
PRPs Deserve Access to Superfund Sites, 17 Env't Rep. (BNA) No. 49, at 2049, 2050 (Apr. 3,
1987). The EPA has estimated that the total price tag for cleaning up the nation's worst
abandoned hazardous waste sites could run as high as $46 billion. H.R. Rep. No. 253, 99th
Cong., 2d Sess. 278, reprinted in 1986 U.S. Code Cong. & Admin. News 2835, 2953.
2 From 1942 to 1953, the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation dumped on the Love
Canal site an estimated 352 million pounds of an industrial chemical waste, including TCP,
which is often contaminated with dioxin, and lindane, a highly toxic pesticide product. House
Report, supra note 1, at 18. On May 21, 1980, President Carter declared a federal emergency
at the Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York. Molotsky, President Orders Emergency Help
for Love Canal, N.Y. Times, May 22, 1980, at Al, col. 2. Seven hundred and ten families were
evacuated, and both New York and the federal government provided funds to buy out contam-
inated properties from residents. Id. In a 1980 report, the House noted: Cleanup cost (sic] at
the Love Canal have already exceeded $27 million.... It is estimated that a properly secured
disposal site would have cost only $4 million (in 1979 dollars) in 1952 when the site was
closed. House Report, supra note 1, at 20.
3 The Love Canal incident is by no means the only event which heightened public aware-
ness to the problems of hazardous waste site mismanagement. In 1980, Congress noted inci-
dents at sites in Montague, Michigan (barrels of hazardous waste dumped off the backs of](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/cdozo12&div=13&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Cercla and Lender Liability: Why the Search for Deep Pockets Leads to Small Change
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