
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994                   TAG: 9402250041
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

LOTS OF WASTE

THE FEDERAL Superfund program, which is supposed to clean up abandoned hazardous-waste sites, has amassed incredible waste itself, consuming huge amounts of time and money in litigation, with less than enough cleanup to show for it.

To its credit, the Clinton administration has proposed a plan that would reduce both endless litigation and excessively elaborate and expensive cleanups.

Some parties less responsible for a given hazard will be exempted from liability. An arbitrator, if requested, would divide responsibility for cleanup costs. Parties agreeing to pay their allocation would be exempt from lawsuits filed by other polluters.

The administration would also change the law now requiring gold-plated cleanups, according to which every site must be made suitable for residential purposes. Just clean it to a standard commensurate with its probable future use, suggests the Environmental Protection Agency sensibly. If the local community wants more, let it pay for it.

If the effect of these real-world reforms is to expedite cleanups of hazardous waste sites, why should environmentalists complain?

by CNB